UNDEFEATED Christian Mbilli is on the cusp of a super-middleweight world title shot, but first, the Montreal-based fighter must navigate a tricky test against Maciej Sulecki on June 27 in Quebec City.
Born in the Cameroonian capital of Yaoundé, Mbilli, 28-0 (23 KOs), moved to France aged 11 and went on to represent the tricolour flag of his new homeland at the Rio 2016 Olympics but lost out to eventual gold medallist Arlen López in the quarter-finals.
The following year, Mbilli moved to Canada to work under Artur Beterbiev’s trainer Marc Ramsay. Since then, ‘Solide’ has not looked back, becoming one of Canada’s most popular fighters, maintaining an undefeated record and climbing the rankings.
Mbilli has now reached crunch time in his career, with this year set to be a pivotal period for the 30-year-old, who still remains in search of the breakthrough win that will make fans around the globe sit up and take notice.
Mbilli had been scheduled for an all-French showdown with fellow undefeated contender Kevin Lele Sadjo before the clash was cancelled due to reported financial issues.
The WBC then ordered Mbilli to take on the highly rated Diego Pacheco in an intriguing match-up for the sanctioning body’s vacant Interim title, which would see the winner recognised as a worthy world title challenger.
Pacheco has since decided to withdraw from the contest and swerve a scrap with Mbilli, a move which Mbilli admitted had frustrated him, when he recently spoke with Boxing News.
“I am a little bit frustrated, but you know, it is boxing. In boxing it is very difficult to have big fights and the fights that you want but I don’t care, I have a good team who is working very hard for me. My team have made this fight happen with Sulecki for the WBC Interim and I am happy to have this fight on June 27.”
Stepping up to the plate is Maciej Sulecki, 33-3 (13 KOs), who will attempt to hand Mbilli a first career defeat and put himself in line for a second world title shot. In June 2019 the Warsaw battler lost out to WBO middleweight champion Demtrius Andrade on points.
Sulecki, however, will need to improve on his visit to North America back in August 2024, where he suffered a first stoppage defeat – a performance which Mbilli does not believe that he must better, despite claiming to be the best fighter that Sulecki has faced.
“I don’t have any pressure [to better Pacheco’s performance] in this fight. The only pressure that I have is to make a good fight, to bring a big show for boxing fans.
“Every fight right now is very important, and this fighter has a good style. He [Sulecki] is a very good fighter, and I think that he is going to help me push myself and become a better boxer.
“For me, I think that I am the best boxer that he has fought. He has fought Danny Jacobs, Demetrius Andrade and Pacheco but I think that I am the best. I am going to show this on June 27.”
Whilst confident of a statement win, Mbilli recognises the dangers that Sulecki brings to the table and explained that his goal is to entertain as well as triumph.
“He is very risky, he is very tough, and he puts a lot of pressure on,” Mbilli said. “He can be sneaky too; I think that I have to be very careful because he can box too and he can put pressure on. I don’t know the strategy that he is going to bring to the ring, but I think that I have to be very careful with this fight.
“I want to give a boxing show to the fans; I want to give them a very big show and a good fight. I don’t want my fight to be like the last fight of Canelo (against William Scull), I want to show the fans that boxing is spectacular, it is not a dance.”
Victory for Mbilli would not only earn him the WBC Interim title but also the mandatory challenger position for the winner of September’s undisputed title fight between Canelo Alvarez and Terence Crawford.
Should Canelo come out on top, Mbilli maintained that his ultimate goal is to become a world champion but promised a ‘spectacular’ performance if he must go through Canelo to achieve it.
“I think that Canelo will win this fight,” he predicted. “Canelo is too big, and I don’t know how Crawford is right now, but I think that it is too much for Crawford to go up two divisions.
“Right now, the number one thing is that I want to be a world champion and number two is that I want to be the best in the division. If Canelo gives me my chance, then I would be very happy to beat him. If he leaves the WBC then that is good, but right now I want to be number one and I also want Canelo too.
“I am going to keep quiet about my strategy to beat Canelo but of course it would be more spectacular than his last fight with Scull!”
