French Super Middleweight contender, Christian M’billi, has continued to impress in his campaign for a world title at 168 lbs. The 27-year old dominated in a match against veteran Carlos Gongora whose first loss came less than two years ago against another would-be world title challenger in Lerrone Richards. With the judges’ scorecards (99-91, 98-92 and 97-93) painting M’billi as the clear winner by unanimous decision, the Frenchman put up a dazzling display of boxing ability at the Montreal Casino in Montreal, Canada, on March 23rd.
Having already been billed as the next world champion at Super Middleweight, Christian M’billi (24-0, 20 KO’s) is one of a couple of underrated fighters in the division who have remained under the radar when it comes to world title opportunities. With Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (58-2-2, 39 KO’s) not exactly shying away from fighting contenders at 168 lbs, M’billi has gotten himself closer to earning a shot at Canelo’s world titles after his last win over Carlos Gongora (21-2, 16 KO’s).
M’billi’s victory over Gongora was tougher than the scorecards indicated, but was nonetheless convincing with Christian M’billi noticeably having had to fight through arguably some of Gongora’s hardest punches, including some uppercuts that M’billi took surprisingly well.
The French Cameroon-born fighter proved his mettle as the fight went on, and seemed to net in the most of the rounds past the second. In the eight round, however, he faced some extreme difficulty when he was clearly battered badly by Gongora, but the Frenchman somehow overcame the damage he suffered to rally and take control of the match from that point forward.
With Carlos Gongora unable to stop the onslaught of attacks following the eight round where he seemed to be close to dropping Christian M’billi, the Ecuadorian fighter, the last round saw him completely outmatched and outstruck by M’billi which left no doubt as to what was the winner when the total amount of rounds were counted.
Christian M’billi was announced the winner by unanimous decision, allowing him to retain his WBA International and WBC Continental Americas titles as a result while continuing on with his unbeaten winning streak which has seen him maintain a KO ratio of 83%.
His latest victory over Gongora now leaves him open to face some of the best in the division, though with Canelo Alvarez busy in defending his title against John Ryder – whereafter he is slated to go after Dmitry Bivol (21-0, 11 KO’s), if he won’t face the mandatory of the winner between David Benavidez versus Caleb Plant or loses to Ryder all together – M’billi will not enjoy the luxury of fighting for a world title soon, unless he is matched with David Morrell (8-0, 7 KO’s) who currently holds the WBA ‘Regular’ world title.
With his current position as the #5 best Super Middleweight on the WBA’s rankings, it is expected that Christian M’billi will be boosted up which can better position him to face Morrell next.
In addition to potentially facing Morrell, M’billi can also find himself gain an opportunity to fight the winner of Benavidez vs. Plant given his #2 ranked position on the WBC’s Super Middleweight ranking boards – with the WBC interim title likely to be at stake if he does. In that sense, this Saturday’s blockbuster match-up between two of the best Super Middleweights in the division may determine the course of this weight class as a new mandatory challenger will be announced.
With Saul Alvarez intent on pursuing a fight with Bivol, the chances of some of his titles needing to be vacated has become a realistic prospect if that fight occurs at 175 lbs, and if the sanctioning bodies operate according to their own guidelines and rules, unless they make exceptions.
In any case, M’billi has heralded himself as one of the best fighters in his division, and will be now looked at as a viable threat to anyone looking to move past or through him.
