A mouth-watering super-middleweight matchup between leading contenders Christian Mbilli and Diego Pacheco seemingly remains far from close to being finalised.
News emerged last week that their potential clash could arrive as early as May, with negotiations initiating between Eye of the Tiger Management (EOTTM) and Matchroom Boxing.
Mbilli, 28-0 (23 KOs), was supposed to square off against Kevin Lele Sadjo in an IBF final eliminator for William Scull’s red and gold strap later this year.
However, after withdrawing himself from their all-French dustup, the 29-year-old has now turned his attention towards a possible WBC final eliminator against rising star Pacheco, 23-0 (18 KOs).
The 24-year-old comes off a career-best victory over seasoned operator Steven Nelson, where he produced a coming-of-age performance before claiming a richly deserved unanimous decision.
Mbilli, meanwhile, is perhaps slightly further along in his development, with notable wins over the likes of Sergiy Derevyanchenko and Carlos Gongora placing him at number one in the WBC and WBA rankings.
But with Pacheco ranked second by the WBC, a battle to become the mandatory challenger for the winner of Canelo Alvarez vs Scull seems a logical next step.
Mbilli’s co-promoter, Camille Estephan of EOTTM, posted on Instagram earlier today saying that an offer of $400,000 has been sent to Matchroom.
And yet, while Estephan claims that Top Rank, Mbilli’s other co-promoter, is interested, there has supposedly been no counter offer from Matchroom boss Eddie Hearn, who represents Pacheco.
So now, with both sides remaining a fair distance away from reaching an agreement, one can only hope that this final eliminator actually gets over the line.
