The ascension of Christian Mbilli continues. And the legend of Sergiy Derevyanchenko’s toughness and rotten luck grow.
The undefeated Mbilli (28-0, 23 KOs), rated in the top three at 168 pounds by every alphabet group and seemingly in line for a title shot soon, will be the story going forward. But in the ring Saturday at Centre Videotron in Quebec City, Canada, for 10 rounds, the spotlight fell on the veteran Derevyanchenko (15-6, 10 KOs), who battled through an injury to his left biceps muscle to once again play the role of hard-luck decision loser.
Mbilli won by scores of 100-90, 99-91 and 98-92, and CompuBox stats showed him outlanding Derevyanchenko in power punches 193-113. It was a fight in which there was rarely any doubt who was winning, but it never stopped being competitive and compelling. It made for particularly gripping viewing down the stretch, when Derevyanchenko no longer had a realistic path to victory but also had a career-long streak of never suffering a stoppage to try to maintain. Like Gennady Golovkin, Daniel Jacobs, Jaime Munguia and others before him, Mbilli had to settle for hearing scores read at the conclusion of some tough business against Derevyanchenko.
The 29-year-old Mbilli, fighting before a supportive crowd – his fifth straight fight in Canada and eighth in his past 10 bouts – immediately assumed the role of power-punching stalker, as Derevyanchenko’s game plan involved healthy doses of jabbing and moving. A right to the chin swung a close first round in Mbilli’s direction (though replays showed it grazed the Ukrainian’s shoulder before reaching his jaw), and similarly in the second and third rounds, occasional eye-catching power punches tilted the board in Mbilli’s favor. Toward the end of the third, the fans broke out into a chant of Mbilli’s name, which, to the untrained ear, sounded at first like the common team-sporting-event chant of “M-V-P.”
The two former Olympians traded body blows to open the fourth, but moments later, the entire fight changed. Derevyanchenko became a one-handed fighter, his left biceps visibly rolled up, his right hand working overtime to make up for it. Stunningly, it may have been the 38-year-old underdog’s best round of the fight, and Mbilli seemed temporarily confused as to what to do with the right-hand-happy warrior in front of him.
But soon Mbilli was back to landing the heavy, attention-grabbing shots, methodically racking up points, and he wobbled Derevyanchenko on a couple of occasions. Derevyanchenko offered a tremendous rally in Round 7, bombing away with right hands as Mbilli mostly covered up, but the local favorite still probably pulled out the round by wobbling Derevyanchenko with a right shortly before the bell.
Derevyanchenko shifted into survival mode in the eighth, and despite strong internal debate prior to the ninth, trainer Andre Rozier let him pursue that survival. Mbilli just kept doing his thing, landing combinations to the body and head and pushing for the knockout – or at least a knockdown – but Derevyanchenko stayed on his feet to the end, and even managed to dominate the final 10 seconds of the fight.
“I want to punch, throw the shot, and I can’t,” Derevyanchenko said of his injury in his broken English. He declared Mbilli to be a “good boxer, strong boxer. But if I have two hands, I think it will be another situation.”
Added Rozier of his charge: “He has the heart of a warrior. He had a torn bicep; we know how painful that can be. … He fought one of the best 168-pounders with one hand. One hand. And he gave it everything he had.”
Mbilli also fought through injury, icing his left shoulder afterward and noting that he had trouble lifting the arm. He said of Derevyanchenko, “This man, he’s a gladiator, he’s a warrior. I have learned a lot. I’m going to go back and watch fight again. I’m going to have a lesson from this.”
Like every contender at super middleweight, the dream for Mbilli is a massive payday against Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, who is slated to defend his lineal championship against Edgar Berlanga on Sept. 14.
“I’m ready for big fight. I want to be world champion. To be the best, I have to beat the best,” Mbilli said. He didn’t speak Canelo’s name, but he was clearly referring to him when he told ESPN’s Bernardo Osuna, “After [Berlanga], I think I would be ready for him.”
It was difficult to ascertain from the Derevyanchenko fight just how ready for the leap in class Mbilli is. Despite his high alphabet rankings, the Cameroonian-born fighter hadn’t beaten any serious contenders before outpointing Derevyanchenko. He missed wildly at times and couldn’t take his one-armed opponent off his feet, and there’s a case to be made that he could use a few more “lessons” like this one before challenging Alvarez. Then again, from the fans’ perspective, if Alvarez is going to continue showing no interest in giving David Benavidez a shot, Mbilli would be as live an underdog against him as anyone else at super middleweight.
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