Exclusive: Camille Estephan Says Christian Mbilli vs Canelo Alvarez ‘Is As Close As Ever’

Christian Mbilli‘s long chase for a mega-fight with Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez is “as close as ever,” according to his promoter Camille Estephan.

Mbilli (29-0-1, 24 KOs) was elevated to become the WBC super-middleweight champion following a short stint as the interim title holder and a draw with Lester Martinez. The Frenchman, now based in Montreal, has been chomping at the bit to secure a major fight for the past couple of years, with the likes of Canelo, Jaime Munguia, and Diego Pacheco all in his firing line.

“I think Canelo wants to fight Mbilli and Mbilli wants to fight Canelo,” Estephan said exclusively to FightsATW. “We have spoken many times, and the will is there to make it happen. It’s as close as ever. Christian has the WBC title, and Canelo wants it back, but we don’t want to give it back.

“The fans will be in for a real treat, because when you look at the styles, styles make fights. When you put these two in the ring together, look at Christian, he’s mean, he’s dangerous, and he’s ferocious. Canelo is a great counter-puncher, and we all know the legendary career he’s had, but now I think it’s Christian Mbilli’s time. He’s very, very motivated to become the face of boxing.”

Canelo (63-3-2, 39 KOs) relinquished his undisputed super middleweight championship in a unanimous decision loss to Terence Crawford last September. Crawford would retire from boxing shortly after his crowning at 168 pounds, ripping the division wide open. In January, Canelo was ordered by the IBF to fight Mbilli’s Eye of the Tiger stablemate, Osleys Iglesias, for the vacant title. At the same time, the WBC ordered Mbilli and Hamzah Sheeraz to lock horns for their vacant belt. Sheeraz would seek other opportunities with the WBO, while Canelo recovered from elbow surgery.

“I do know for a fact that when he fought Crawford, he was injured,” Estephan explained. “Sometimes people put too much stock in a fighter’s last outing. He clearly wasn’t himself, and you have to give Crawford credit; he was fighting one of the greatest fighters of all time. I think he will come into the fight with Mbilli ready and motivated as ever. It’s a matter of legacy for him. But for us, we want this so bad. I can tell you that there isn’t a day that goes by where Mbilli is thinking of ways to beat Canelo.

“We are looking at September, but nothing is finalized. Even getting it on paper is not enough. You got to go through the weigh-in and we will see what will happen. The war in Iran is concerning because there was talk that they would do this fight in Riyadh. We will have to wait and see what is happening with that crazy situation.”

Estephan told FightsATW last year that his vision was to build Mbilli into the biggest star in his weight class at the Videotron Centre in Quebec City, where three of his last five fights have taken place.

“I don’t know, Canelo is such a big draw in the US,” Estephan said of luring Canelo to Canada. “I really hope that this war is not going to last a whole lot longer. There is a long way to go until September. I don’t think that this fight happens in Quebec City, as much as I would love that to happen. If it did, we would have 21,000 fans in their seats. They would have gotten into the building at 6 pm, but I got to be realistic about it. At the moment, Mbilli is the champion, but in people’s minds, Canelo is number one. We got to take that away from him

Adam Noble-Forcey

Adam is a regular contributor to FightsATW and serves as the Online Editor for Germany’s longest-running boxing publication, BoxSport Magazin. He has covered the sport for over a decade, contributing to leading platforms including BoxingScene, Seconds Out, Boxing Social, and Pro Boxing Fans. In addition to his written work, Adam is a lead boxing commentator across Europe, calling fights in Germany, the Netherlands, France, Russia, Latvia, Albania, and the United Kingdom.

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