Christian Mbilli and Sergiy Derevyanchenko weighed in successfully at Friday’s weigh-in for their ten-round headliner fight on Saturday, August 17th, on ESPN at the Videotron Centre in Quebec City, Canada.
Mbilli (27-0, 23 KOs) weighed a stocky-looking 167.4 lbs. The experienced veteran Derevyanchenko (15-5, 10 KOs) weighed 167.1 lbs.
The 5’8 1/2″ Mbilli looked taller than the 5’9″ Derevyanchenko, which suggests that one of these fighters’ listed heights isn’t accurate. It’s unclear if Mbilli, 29, wore shoes that made him look taller because he appears short.
#1 WBC Mbilli wants to use this fight as a springboard to get a title shot against unified super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez, but that may not happen. Even if Mbilli wins, he could wait for a while before he’s given a chance to fight for a world title.
Weight-in Results for Saturday
Christian Mbilli 167.4 lbs. vs. Sergiy Derevyanchenko 167.1
Arslanbek Makhmudov 260 vs. Guido Vianello 245.8
Osleys Iglesias 169.3 vs. Sena Agbeko 168.7
Abdullah Mason 136 vs. Mike Ohan Jr. 136.7
Leila Beaudoin 129.7 vs. Lizbeth Crespo 129.2
Wilkens Mathieu 178 vs. Facundo Nicolas Galovar 180.9
Jahi Tucker 160 vs. Santiago Fernandez 159.1
Thomas Chabot 128.6 vs. Matias Ezequiel Guenemil 128.6
Dzmitry Asanau 136.3 vs. Alexis Camejo 136.4
“My goal is to be a world champion, and to be a big superstar of this division,” said Mbilli to Top Rank Boxing. “I have to impress the fans and have my chance to fight for a title. To be so close to a title is very good, and I’m very happy for this.”
The 38-year-old Derevyanchenko is the first notable top-tier fighter the 2016 Olympian Mbilli will have faced during his seven-year pro career. If Mbilli is victorious, he should fight someone higher ranked to earn a fight against Canelo. Someone like Jaime Munguia would be ideal for Mbilli or Diego Pacheco.
“I say to myself that I need to train more and improve myself more. I’m very happy now that I’m going to have my chance to fight for a title before the next year, I hope. I’m fighting Sergiy Derevyanchenko,” said Mbilli.
“It’s my biggest challenge right now because Derevyanchenko has fought all the biggest names and for me, it’s the biggest challenge of my career right now. I hope after this fight, I’m going to show the whole world that I’m the next superstar of the division.
“Derevyanchenko is a very good fighter. He’s very technical. He’s had good conditioning. That’s it. I think I’m better than him, and he thinks he’s better than me. I’m going to show I’m better than him. This fight is going to be a sour defeat for him,” said Mbilli.
“He’s very alert, aggressive and has a gas tank out of this world and has punching power,’ said commentator Tim Bradley about Mbilli.
