LAST month, fans were looking forward to a WBC-ordered showdown between France’s Christian Mbilli, 28-0 (23 KOs), and Californian Diego Pacheco, 23-0 (18 KOs), where the victor would likely earn a lucrative shot at Canelo Alvarez and presumably the undisputed super-middleweight throne in 2026.
However, Pacheco has since withdrawn from the contest, with the 24-year-old keen to bide his time in the division before rushing into a title challenge, and Boxing News now understands that his replacement has been confirmed.
Born in Cameroon but fighting regularly in Canada, Mbilli (main picture) has been in hot pursuit of Canelo and the 168lb marbles while rising to the peak of the division in recent years, but he has struggled to secure fights against the biggest names, in which he could ultimately prove his worth.
Nevertheless, ‘Solide’ still managed to appear on three occasions during 2024, halting both Rohan Murdock and Mark Heffron before going the distance with the famously gritty Sergiy Derevyanchenko in August and scoring a unanimous-decision win.
A clash with Pacheco seemed to provide Mbilli with the perfect opportunity to truly announce himself on the world stage, but although the Montreal-based power puncher will be frustrated by Pacheco’s decision, the WBC interim title could be of more importance and remains up for grabs.
Now, sources have informed BN that, following initial discussions to take on Croatia’s WBC #4 rated super-middleweight Luka Plantic, 11-0 (9 KOs), Mbilli and his team have agreed to a deal to fight Poland’s Maciej Sulecki, 33-3 (13 KOs), for the WBC interim super-middleweight title on June 27 in Quebec.
Sulecki was knocked out by Pacheco after six rounds when they collided in August but managed to bounce back and stop Ali Akhmedov in the final round on away soil in Astana three months ago, claiming the vacant WBC Silver title.
Meanwhile, Plantic has moved on to a fight with undefeated Argentine Bruno Damian Acosta, 11-0 (8 KOs), for the WBC international title, with that fight scheduled to take place in the Croatian’s hometown of Zagreb on May 23.
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