A pretty decent double bill has been announced for Quebec, Canada on May 25th. At super middleweight, unbeaten crowd-pleaser Christian Mbilli will have his second fight of the year when he will face Britain’s Mark Heffron. Mbilli of France is a lot of fun to watch, his punch output and desire for the KO making him so. Heffron is a solid enough fighter but he was stopped in three rounds by Jack Culcay less than a year ago, and he could be taken out pretty fast by the on-fire Mbilli.
Mbilli, 26-0(22) wants what all fighters at or around his weight class want, and that’s a shot at Canelo. Who knows if Mbilli will get what he wants, but don’t go betting on it. Heffron, 30-3-1(24) doesn’t figure to derail Mbilli in what will be the 28 year old’s first fight since signing up with Top Rank. 32 year old Heffron is at least coming off a win, albeit one at a much lower level.
The co-feature will mark the return of Russian beast Arslanbek Makhmudov, last seen being exposed by Agit Kabaye’s hurtful body attack. The towering Makhmudov was being looked at by some as the next big thing at heavyweight and his loss came as something of a disappointment. Going up against Makhmudov will be New Zealand’s Junior Fa, who is coming off a loss himself, which came on the same Saudi card, with Frank Sanchez stopping him after what had been a gutsy effort by Fa.
Really, Makhmudov-Fa can be seen as a toss-up, with both men badly needing some confidence after being stopped. This fight, like the Mbilli-Heffron deal, might not last too long but it could be fun to watch. Fa is currently 20-3(11), while Makhmudov, who is the same age at 34, is currently 18-1(17). There seems to be no way this fight goes the distance.
The same can be said of Mbilli-Heffron. How far can Mbilli go, and can either Makhmudov or Fa rebuild and go on to do anything big?