Christian Mbilli defends his WBC super-middleweight title for the first time against Canelo Alvarez later this month, and should he be successful, Mbilli has confirmed that he would be willing to take part in a ‘dream fight’ against a fellow world champion.
Canelo lost his undisputed super-middleweight crown to Terence Crawford last September, before the belts then became fragmented when the American announced his retirement from the sport.
Since then, Mbilli has been elevated to full WBC world champion, whilst Armando Resendiz was upgraded to WBA titleholder – only to later lose the belt to Jaime Munguia.
Osleys Iglesias (IBF) and Hamzah Sheeraz later captured the remaining vacant world titles, but Sheeraz has recently announced his decision to vacate the WBO crown.
Earlier this month, Iglesias, who fights under the same promotion as Mbilli (Eye of the Tiger Promotions), successfully defended his IBF marble for the first time as he capped off a dominant display with a seventh-round knockout of Denmark’s Oliver Zaren.
During the aftermath, the Cuban knockout artist unveiled plans to face the victor of Canelo-Mbilli, despite the reigning WBC super-middleweight world champion being his promotional stablemate.
“I hope the winner [of Canelo-Mbilli] faces me. I’d like my next fight to be a unification.”
Now, speaking exclusively to Boxing News, Mbilli has responded to that call-out and accepted a future showdown with Iglesias, but added that he would prefer it to be for the undisputed title and that it will need to wait until after a possible rematch with Canelo, at the very earliest.
“I am not sure about what is next, as I’m really focused on Canelo right now, adding to the fact that I might have to give him a rematch after.
“That being said, I’m down for any big fight once the Canelo chapter is done. We will see how the cards play out, but if Iglesias and I can meet for the undisputed crown, I think it would be the dream fight for a lot of people.”
Canelo-Mbilli is scheduled to take place on Saturday, October 31 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, with at least two additional world title bouts on offer on the undercard.
