Last night in Montreal, Canada, unbeaten super middleweight contender/terror Christian Mbilli scored an ultra-quick stoppage win over Britain’s Mark Heffron. The all-action Frenchman dropped Heffron with a nasty left hand body shot just seconds into the opening round, with Heffron going down and having zero chance of being able to get back up. Last night’s fight never figured to last too long, and it was over after a mere :40 seconds.
29 year old Mbilli is now 27-0(23) and he is as hungry as can possibly be imagined for a world title opportunity. 32 year old Heffron falls to 30-4-1(23) and he has been stopped in each of his defeats.
Mbilli is fast becoming a real fan-favourite, in fact he has been for some time. Mbilli looks to chuck out a ton of leather each and every time he fights and he sends the paying fans home happy. Like so many fighters who ply their trade at or around the 168 pound division, Mbilli wants a shot at Canelo, but next up it will almost certainly be Ukrainian tough guy, the never-stopped Sergiy Derevyanchenko. The fight was pencilled in for Quebec on August 17th before last night’s fight.
Now that Mbilli has taken care of business, this in his second fight of 2024, fans can brace themselves for what looks like a nailed-on war between Mbilli and Derevyanchenko. Talk about a can’t-miss fight. Derevynachenko is 38 years of age but he and his fans could make the argument that he has only ever been truly been bested in one fight. At 15-5(10), Derevyanchenko has dropped decisions in each of his five losses, to Danny Jacobs (a split decision loss), Gennady Golovkin, a UD defeat that plenty of people felt the Ukrainian might just have edged), Jermall Charlo (this, a UD loss, the sole clear defeat Sergiy has suffered), Carlos Adames (a MD loss), and, Jaime Munguia (an agonisingly close points loss in a real battle).
Derevyanchenko has won one fight since losing to Munguia and on paper he should give Mbilli his toughest test yet. It goes without saying that if Mbilli can become the first man to halt Derevyanchenko he will be making some huge statement. Roll on August 17!
Also on last night’s card, Russian heavyweight Arslanbek Makhmudov scored a quick KO of his own. Returning to the ring for the first time since losing his unbeaten record vis stoppage against Agit Kabayel, Makhmudov crushed Miljan Rovcanin in two rounds. The Russian big man scored a heavy knockdown in the first round, leaving Rovcanin halfway out of the ring. Makhmudov finished off his over-matched foe with another right hand in round two.
Time was 2:32 and Makhmudov is now 19-1(18). Rovcanin falls to 27-4(18). Makhmudov was to have faced Junior Fa last night, in what would have been a far more interesting test for him, but Fan made the decision to retire a few weeks back.
