Christian M’billi, a contender, will face a veteran in the 10-round main event this Saturday, August 17th, at the Videotron Centre in Quebec City, Canada. The M’billi-Derevyanchenko event will be shown live on ESPN and ESPN+ at 10:00 p.m. ET/7:00 p.m. PT.
Abdullah Mason: The True Star of the Show
Lightweight talent Abdullah Mason is the keeper on the card and the one that U.S. fans are most interested in seeing. You could take a broom and sweep away the main event along with the entire undercard, leaving Abdullah Mason, and U.S. fans would be happy.
The 29-year-old M’billi (27-0, 23 KOs) is being given yet another step-up fight, even though he’s pushing 30 and has wasted a lot of time in his career padding his record.
M’billi may have been scared of stepping him up quickly after Rohan Murdock repeatedly tagged him last January. Although M’billi eventually stopped Murdock in the sixth, not before getting hurt in the contest.
You can’t count out the grizzled 38-year-old veteran Derevyanchenko (15-5, 10 KOs) in this fight because M’Billi isn’t as good as some boxing fans seem to think he is. If he were, he would have moved much faster in his career after competing in the 2016 Olympics, and Murdock wouldn’t have hurt him.
If M’Billi wins, it won’t tell us much because Derevyanchenko has already been recently beaten by Jaime Munguia, Carlos Adames, and Jermall Charlo. Losing to Munguia, a fighter with an inflated record, shows that Derevyanchenko is nearing the end of his career.
Derevyanchenko was beating the brakes off Munguia before getting dropped with a body shot in the twelfth. I still had Derevyanchenko winning, but they, not surprisingly, gave it to Munguia for obvious reasons. He had a Canelo Alvarez payday looming, so he got the win.
The version of Derevyanchenko that gave Gennadiy Golovkin huge problems in 2019 would have beaten Munguia with ease and defeated M’Billi because he’s clearly not that good.
For Americans, the best fight card is between lightweight talent Abdullah Mason (14-0, 12 KOs) and Mike ‘Bad Man’ Ohan Jr (19-2, 9 KOs). This is easily the best and arguably should be the main event, with M’Billi-Derevyanchenko stowed away in the co-feature bout where it belongs.
Undercard
Arslanbek Makhmudov vs. Guido Vianello
Osleys Iglesias vs. Sena Agbeko
Abdullah Mason vs. Mike ‘Bad Man’ Ohan Jr (19-2, 9 KOs)
Dzmitry Asanau vs. Matias Rueda
Jahi Tucker vs. Santiago Fernandez
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