{"id":390289,"date":"2026-01-25T21:30:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-25T21:30:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/390289\/"},"modified":"2026-01-25T21:30:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-25T21:30:11","slug":"christian-mbilli-eager-to-return-before-may-remove-wbc-interim-status","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/390289\/","title":{"rendered":"Christian Mbilli eager to return before May, remove WBC &#8216;interim&#8217; status"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>WBC interim super middleweight champion <a class=\"underline hover:text-redColor\" href=\"https:\/\/ringmagazine.com\/en\/fighters\/christian-mbilli-1400\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Christian Mbilli<\/a> is back in Montreal and ready to remove the asterisk of interim from his title designation.<br \/>Mbilli, who lives in Dubai, has had time off since fighting <a class=\"underline hover:text-redColor\" href=\"https:\/\/ringmagazine.com\/en\/news\/christian-mbilli-vs-lester-martinez-result-netflix-canelo-crawford\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Lester Martinez to a 10-round split draw on Sept. 13<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>He has largely spent downtime traveling, visiting Japan with his girlfriend before heading to France for family time.<\/p>\n<p>The Martinez encounter was quite the showstopper, taking place on the undercard of Canelo Alvarez-Terence Crawford at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I think it was a very good fight for me,&#8221; Mbilli (29-0-1, 24 KOs) told <a class=\"underline hover:text-redColor\" href=\"https:\/\/ringmagazine.com\/en\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The Ring<\/a>. &#8220;Maybe I was supposed to do better in the ring, but it was a good fight, he&#8217;s a very good fighter. I did my best in that moment.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It was a good fight to show people what type of fighter I am. I think it was the best fight of the evening and I&#8217;m very happy with this.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It was a great thing [to be on that undercard and on Netflix] but it was more pressure. It was a good experience because after this, I think I will be ready for everything. It was the biggest event ever and in my life.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>The nature of his performance and fight has seen Mbilli gain considerable acclaim.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Many people texted me. Many talked to me saying it was a crazy, amazing fight, they had never seen this type of very exciting fight,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I think people want to see more fights like this. It&#8217;s very good for the fan but not always for the fighter. It takes something out of you.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Now he&#8217;s ready to kick on and put his body through the grind again in his bid to become a full world champion. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The division was locked up with Canelo,&#8221; Mbilli said. &#8220;Now, I think there are more opportunities because you have a lot of big talents. We are waiting to be world champion. Now I think it&#8217;s time for me and other boxers to have a chance.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I think I will be WBC world champion very soon and after this. I want to be the division&#8217;s No. 1. I don&#8217;t know if Canelo wants to fight again. I&#8217;ll take the opportunity to beat him if I have that, but first want to be world champion.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>It will almost certainly be someone besides Alvarez, looking to profit from the vacant titles after <a class=\"underline hover:text-redColor\" href=\"https:\/\/ringmagazine.com\/en\/news\/terence-crawford-38-retires-from-boxing-three-months-after-beating-canelo-alvarez\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Crawford&#8217;s retirement last month<\/a>. <br \/>&#8220;Right now, the <a class=\"underline hover:text-redColor\" href=\"https:\/\/ringmagazine.com\/en\/news\/wbc-terence-crawford-stripped-mbilli-sheeraz-ordered-for-vacant-168-pound-title\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">WBC asked [Hamzah] Sheeraz<\/a> to fight us, we&#8217;re still waiting for more information,&#8221;Mbilli said. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I hope I will be in the ring before May, hoping March or April. I am waiting for the opponent and for maybe a TV date. &#8230; More war is coming.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WBC interim super middleweight champion Christian Mbilli is back in Montreal and ready to remove the asterisk of&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":390290,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,6842,6836,6841,6840,6834,6102,6837,6838,6839,6835,6588,6847,6846,6830,6828,6829,6844,6831,6827,6848,6843,101,6845,6826,6833,56,54,55,6832],"class_list":["post-390289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-boxing-community","tag-boxing-fights","tag-boxing-history","tag-boxing-interviews","tag-boxing-magazine","tag-boxing-news","tag-boxing-photos","tag-boxing-rankings","tag-boxing-schedule","tag-boxing-videos","tag-boxing-results","tag-disqualification","tag-draw","tag-fight","tag-fighter","tag-fighter-news","tag-knockout","tag-latest-boxing-matches","tag-ring","tag-ring-magazine","tag-split-decision","tag-sports","tag-technical-knockout","tag-the-ring","tag-top-fighters","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-upcoming-boxing-matches"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390289","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=390289"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390289\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/390290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=390289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=390289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=390289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}