As many of us expected would be the case, the super middleweight fight between unbeaten warriors Christian Mbilli and Lester Martinez ended up giving us a great action slugfest – maybe even the fight of the night in Las Vegas. After 10 non-stop, unrelenting rounds of truly two-way warfare, the three judges were split, the fight ending up being declared a draw; this a decision nobody could argue with.
WBC interim champ Mbilli, born in Cameroon and now fighting out of Canada, took the heat right to Guatemala’s Martinez, who was more than happy to dig and and fire right back. It was, to list a few cliches: A fight in a phone booth. It was an ‘I’ll-hit-you-you-hit-me’ trade-off. It was a rock ’em, sock ’em battle of attrition.
And the scores reflected this at 97-93 for Martinez, 96-94 for Mbilli, and 95-95.
Hooks, Uppercuts, and Relentless Pressure
30 year old Mibilli is now 29-0-1(24). 29 year old Martinez is now 19-0-1(16). It’s a no-brainer these two will fight again.
Mbilli, as is his way, marched right to his foe, looking to dig in with hefty shots; Mbilli loving his hooks. Martinez never once even thought about shying away, and the slightly younger man met fire with fire; Martinez loving his uppercuts. Both men traded savage, one would have thought ultimately draining body shots, yet neither man came close to wilting.
It was an intense slugfest, and also a nightmare of a fight to score. Neither man could put a dent in the other, and neither man was ever really noticeably buzzed or hurt. While we’re at it, it’s also a fact that neither warrior was in any mood to initiate a clinch. Mbilli was always on the front-foot, while Martinez would always come right back with a combo of shots after his rival had let loose with his punches. It was a fight that simply flew by, such was the blistering pace.
A Rematch Feels Inevitable
With precious little ring space used tonight, Mbilli and Martinez gave us a good, old-fashioned in-fight; one that saw a ton of leather exchanged. Both men will need a good rest after their 30-minutes of warfare, but that rematch seems about as certain as death and taxes.
Judging by the way they fought tonight, Mbilli and Martinez could potentially fight one another five times and it would always be a tough, hard, nip-and-tuck affair. Here’s another cliché: the fans were the real winners tonight.
Can Canelo Alvarez and Terence Crawford give us as much red-hot action in the main event?