Christian Mbilli Trained To Face Sergiy Derevyanchenko May 25 Defeat Mark Heffron
Undefeated Christian Mbilli has made a name for himself in Canada with a whirlwind performance. (Photo by Mathieu Belanger/Getty Images)
Super middleweight Christian Mbilli is guaranteed a summer fight date with a win without injury this weekend.
A ring confirmed that Sergiy Derevyanchenko is in line to face the undefeated super middleweight contender on August 17 in Quebec City, Canada. The fight hinges on Mbilli coming out victorious and unscathed against Mark Heffron this Saturday on ESPN+ from Shawinigan, Canada.
From there, Mbilli, of The Ring's No. 2-rated super middleweight, he will square off against Derevyanchenko, a three-time title contender.
The August 17 date was confirmed in The Ring by Top Rank's Hall of Fame matchmaker Brad Goodman, confirming a new news report from ESPN.com's Mike Coppinger. Billi is produced by Top Rank and Eye of The Tiger Management, and is trained by Marc Ramsey.
Billi (26-0, 22 knockouts) is listed by FanDuel sportsbook as a -2500 favorite to beat England's Heffron this weekend.
Heffron (30-3-1, 24 KOs) has won five of his last six since a November 2020 loss to Denzel Bentley. All five wins during that span have come within range. The 32-year-old Brit last fought on February 24 in his hometown of Oldham, where he stopped Serhii Ksendzov in the second round. Heffron was stopped by challenger Jack Cullen in the third round of his previous fight on September 2.
The fight is the second of the year for the Montreal-based Cameroonian, who stopped Rohan Murdock after six rounds on Jan. 26 in Quebec City. Murdock was playing but losing to the tough Billi.
The win came four months after Mbilli defeated Demond Nicholson in two rounds. The 29-year-old also defeated Carlos Gongora, Ronald Ellis and former title contender Nadjib Mohammedi.
An outstanding player, Mbilli represented France at the 2016 Olympic Games. His intended rival for Summer boasts a pedigree similar to Summer's.
Derevyanchenko (15-5, 10 KOs) represented Ukraine at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The 38-year-old is now based in Brooklyn, where he scored a 10-round victory over Vaughn Alexander on April 20.
This got him back into the win column after he had lost four of his previous five. Derevyanchenko dropped a narrow decision to then-undefeated Jaime Munguia last June 10 in Ontario, California. Their epic 12-round slugfest was honored by the Boxing Writers Association of America as the 2023 Fight of the Year.
Derevyanchenko lost three major title fights.
He dropped one-year non-contest decisions to established Daniel Jacobs in October 2018 and Gennadiy Golovkin in October. 2019, both with the IBF middleweight title at stake. Jermall Charlo then defeated Derevyanchenko in convincing fashion in their September 2020 WBC middleweight title fight.
Francisco A. Salazar has written for The Ring since October 2013 and has handled boxing in Southern California and internationally since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (California) Star newspaper. They can be reached at [email protected]
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