Christian Mbilli directed to fight Jaime Munguia, would still welcome Canelo Alvarez

HAMBURG, Germany – It was announced Wednesday that Christian Mbilli and Jaime Munguia should fight for the WBC’s interim super middleweight title.

Munguia is scheduled to fight Bruno Surace in Mexico on Saturday, while Mbilli most recently boxed in August, notching a wide win over Sergiy Derevyanchenko.

It will be down to Top Rank and Eye of the Tiger to work out a deal, but it’s a superb fight, with Mbilli unbeaten after 28 fights and Munguia, in 45 fights, having been defeated only by Saul “Canelo” Alvarez.

However, the biggest star in the division remains Canelo Alvarez, and he has yet to announce his plans for his expected return in May, although Top Rank, which handles Mbilli with Eye of the Tiger (the promotion also has Munguia), would happily see the Canada-based Frenchman go after Canelo next.

“It’d be a good, exciting fight for Canelo,” said Top Rank head Bob Arum. “Mbilli comes to fight. It won’t be boring. It’ll be interesting. Canada – particularly French Canada – has many boxing fans, and it’d be a new fan base of support for Canelo.”

Top Rank vice president Carl Moretti agreed, and said Mbilli’s timeline to return to action was around April.

“We would love it,” he said of Canelo-Mbilli. “I have no idea if it’s possible or not. I think Christian’s style makes for a very entertaining fight, that would make Canelo shine and make him work for the victory. As far as the marketability or not, I don’t know, but I think the fight inside the ring would be terrific. I think Canada would get behind it as well. It would be a big fight in Canada. How much that resonates for a Canelo fight, I don’t know.”