Christian Mbilli was elevated to WBC super-middleweight champion two days ago and is looking to defend his title against a “big name” in the coming months.
Mbilli (29-0-1, 24 KOs) claimed the interim version of the green and gold belt with a swift first-round knockout against Polish contender Maciej Sulecki at the Centre Videotron in Quebec City last June. The 30-year-old Frenchman, based in Montreal for the entirety of his career, would share a split-decision draw with Lester Martinez in an epic battle on the Terence Crawford-Saul Alvarez undercard at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas two and a half months later. At the time, Alvarez held all four belts at 168 pounds, but was relieved of his undisputed title by unanimous decision. Crawford has since retired.
“The people [in France] are very happy,” Mbilli told FightsATW. “The last world champion from France was about three or four years ago. The people are very happy now because they have a new world champion. They can’t wait to have me back in France for a press conference and to talk with the boxing fans. People are very happy with this information.”
It has been over three years since Mbilli returned to France, where he recorded a wide unanimous-decision victory against Vaughn Alexander in Nantes.
“I hope that I am going to have a fight there,” Mbilli added, “but the strategy right now is to have the big names of the division. People know that boxing now is the USA, England, and Saudi Arabia. Right now, the strategy is to have a big fight and a bigger name, then we can see about having a fight in France, Canada, and maybe Cameroon too.”
Since Alvarez’s loss to Crawford, the super middleweight division has been fragmented. The IBF and WBO belts sit vacant, while Mexico’s Jose Armando Resendiz was elevated to WBA champion after claiming an interim version of the title against Caleb Plant last May.
“I hope that [Hamza] Sheeraz will become a champion with the WBO,” Mbilli said of who he expects to join him as a world champion this year. “I hope [Jaime] Munguia will become a world champion, or maybe [Edgar] Berlanga, then we can make a unification. Or maybe [Jermall] Charlo, I hope for a unification. I want all the bigger names to be world champions so that we can have a bigger fight after.”
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