Christian Mbilli faces Maciej Sulecki for the WBC interim 168-lb belt on June 27th, live on ESPN+ in a 12-round headliner at the Videotron Centre in Quebec City. Mbilli (28-0, 23 KOs) is putting his #1 ranking with the WBC at risk going up against #7 Sulecki (33-3, 14 KOs) in a fight to position himself for a world title shot against unified champion Canelo Alvarez.
Sulecki, 35, is up there in age, but looked excellent in his last fight, stopping Ali Akhmedov in the tenth round on February 28th in Astana, Kazakhstan. That performance demonstrated the importance of staying active for fighters, as Sulecki has kept himself sharp by fighting frequently.
You can’t rule out a victory for Sulecki in this fight because he has superior technical skills to Mbilli, and his defense is on another level. Sulecki has a powerful jab, and he can control the action with that weapon alone against Christian.
WBC Politics
It’s a fight that Mbilli, 29, doesn’t need to take for him to get an eventual title shot. However, with the WBC unlikely to force the superstar Canelo to ever fight him, he’s got to take risks to put pressure on him to face him or vacate. It could be more of the latter that we eventually see.
Mbilli has looked vulnerable in recent fights against Sergiy Derevyanchenko and Rohan Murdock. He got hit a lot in both fights. Those performances showed that Christian would be in a race against time if he fought Canelo, because the longer the fight went on, the more likely he’d be to get knocked out. He would have to get to the Mexican star before he landed one of his big shots for him to win.
“There’s no way I’m leaving without the belt on June 27. I want to salute my opponent for having the courage to accept this challenge,” said Mbilli about his opponent, Sulecki.
The belt that Mbilli is talking about is the WBC interim, and that’s a placeholder and not a true belt. Under normal circumstances, Mbilli capturing that belt would lead to him getting a title shot. In this case, it doesn’t because Canelo holds the main WBC belt, and he fights whoever he pleases.
“Christian Mbilli is one of the most exciting fighters in boxing today, and this is the moment he’s been waiting for,” said Top Rank promoter Bob Arum. “He’s taking on a tough, experienced veteran in Maciej Sulecki, who’s coming off a huge upset. This has all the makings of a firefight in front of one of North America’s best boxing crowds.”
Last Updated on 04/23/2025
Read the full article here