Christian Mbilli Coasts Pasts Derevyanchenko

Videotron Centre in Quebec City, Canada: On a night full of beatdowns, Montreal-based contender Christian Mbilli (28-0, 23 KOs) closed out with one of his own, beating former world title challenger Sergiy Derevyanchenko (15-6, 10 KOs) in ten rounds Saturday night.

The judge’s scorecards had the contest 100-90, 99-91, and 98-92, all in favor of Mbill in a bout that reflected one-way traffic.

From the onset, Mbilli looked to dictate the pace with volume and did just that, leading with his right hand. This kept Derevyanchenko along the ropes and gave him nothing much to do but stay on the defensive. There was a moment in the second round where Mbilli staggered Derevyanchenko as he was caught off-balanced, but Derevyanchenko could use his jab to escape.

At the beginning of the fourth round, the broadcast noted that Derevyanchenko’s corner stated that he had a problem with his left arm. The real-time, non-medical diagnosis was a torn bicep; he was a one-armed fighter for the rest of the fight. Still didn’t stop him from having his best round of the battle against Mbilli. The fifth started to be as well until midway through the round when a Mibilli body shot showed Derevyanchenko wincing and having to shake it off.

Derevyanchenko stunned Mbilli in the seventh round for a moment, spamming Mbilli over the top with his one right hand. Mbilli would counter this near the end of the seventh as he moved around and forced Derevyanchenko to fight along the ropes again.  

In the eighth round, Derevyanchenko slipped early, but it felt like a chapter towards the night’s end. While Derevyanchenko was game and proved his resilience, he was a wounded duck. Derevyanchenko’s trainer, Andre Rozier, said he’d sent him out for the ninth round and nothing more. This would be a lie, as the ninth and final round saw more of the same as Mbilli had his way—credit Derevyanchenko for staying upright for 30 minutes of this.

With this win, Mbilli will hold fort alongside the Top 5 among the sanctioning bodies. Canelo still has the keys in the division at 168 and will be in action next month against Edgar Berlanga. Whatever this means for Mbilli, we will all wait and see. For tonight’s step-up test, Mbilli passed with flying colors.