French contender Christian M’billi has potentially become the #1 contender in the division following a stupendous stoppage victory over Polish contender Maciej Sulecki in only the 1st round. The two headlined a Eye of the Tiger Promotions card in M’billi’s adopted hometown of Quebec City, in Canada, at the Centre Videotron arena on June 27.

Christian M’billi vs. Maciej Sulecki

The match-up between Christian M’billi (29-0, 24 KO’s) and Maciej Sulecki (33-4, 13 KO’s) was not expected to be evenly-matched given M’billi was in top form and unbeaten. Sulecki, in comparison, while having recorded an impressive win over Kazakh contender Ali Akhmedov earlier this year, the Polish fighter also recorded a loss to highly-rated American contender Diego Pacheco ― suggesting M’billi would be a challenge too steep.

Nonetheless, the 1st round victory by M’billi came as a complete surprise given his last match against a ranked contender, Ukrainian Sergiy Derevyanchenko went the full distance of 10 rounds. With M’billi and Sulecki competing in a title bout scheduled for 12 rounds for the vacant WBC interim title, their bout was further of significance to their standings in the super middleweight (168 lbs) division where they vied for the spot to become the next world title challenger.

The 1st minute of the round showed little action, with both fighters still establishing their range and approach. Leading up to the 2nd minute of the first round, M’billi seemed to have found his range as he landed several punches that Sulecki took well but still suggested the Frenchman was taking the lead.

After the 2nd minute passed, M’billi became more effective as he decided to double-down on his activity, landing several crushing body punches during a combination that ended with a hard right uppercut that instantly dropped Sulecki. The Polish contender managed to get back to his feet but proved too disorienting to beat the count of ten, forcing the referee to wave the match off. M’billi would subsequently be announced the winner by technical knockout (TKO).

With M’billi now having a firm hold over the WBC interim 168-pound title, he is in pole position to challenge for at least the WBC world title though there are multiple factors that prevent such a fight from occurring. Aside from undisputed champion Canelo Alvarez’ fight with Terence Crawford on September 13, the WBC has further carved out an unflattering reputation after denying previous interim champion David Benavidez the opportunity to face Alvarez who held all the super middleweight titles at the time.

As such, an eventual title reckoning For Christian M’billi seems unlikely to happen this year.

Undercard fights:

• Despite having recorded a disappointing record of two losses during his last three matches, Russian heavyweight (200+ lbs) contender Arslanbek Makhmudov (20-2, 19 KO’s) is still aiming for top glory and began climb back up the standings against unranked Jamaican contender Ricardo Brown (12-1, 11 KO’s). Having been unbeaten prior to facing Makhmudov, Brown would suffer his first-ever career defeat as the Russian fighter went on to defeat him in the 1st round by TKO.

• In the women’s featherweight (126 lbs) division, Canadian contender Leila Beaudoin (13-1, 2 KO’s) and French former world title challenger Elhem Mekhaled (17-4, 3 KO’s) duked it out for the WBO International title. Beaudoin would be the one to win the contest, recording just the second knockout (KO) victory of her career after stopping Mekhaled in the 6th round of their 10-round fight.

• Canadian contender and former title challenger Steven Butler (36-5-1, 30 KO’s) also fought on the card in its co-main event, facing Mexican contender Jose de Jesus Macias (29-14-4, 15 KO’s) and not surprising anyone with a 4th round KO over Macias.