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“Christian Mbilli or Sergiy Derevyanchenko will play with Canelo Alvarez”

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Camille Estephan is hoping to get super middleweight title contender Christian Mbilli to Quebec City’s Videotron Centre in August, putting pressure on the biggest names in the weight class to fight him.

Mbilli is 27-0 (23 KOs) and defeated Englishman Mark Heffron in 40 seconds in May. However, on August 17 he will meet world-class Ukrainian veteran Sergiy Derevyanchenko made significant progress over the course of 10 rounds.

Estephan clearly has high hopes for Mbilli, but is aware of how essential a convincing victory is.

“To be straightforward, we don’t think we’ve seen his best side yet,” the promoter said. “I think we’ve Derevyanchenko, who is one of the best fighters at 168 – I don’t think there’s ever been a better fighter than this guy who has a record of 15 and 5. He should be 19 and 1 and in his last five fights he’s only fought world champions or former world champions, so he’s real. This is going to be a top-level fight and we’re sure Christian will show that he’s fit to fight Canelo [Alvarez]; [Jaime] Munguia…”

Respectable Derevyanchenko has 10 knockouts in 15 wins, and his last eight opponents include Danny Jacobs, Jack Culcay, Gennady Golovkin, Jermall Charlo, Carlos Adames and Jaime Munguia. In April, he significantly outscored Vaughn Alexander over 10 rounds, and the winner in August will be ready for a major fight in 2025.

“If the winner of Mbilli-Derevyanchenko fight, especially if it’s a fight in which he [Mbilli] can deliver what we know he has, people will be clamoring for that Canelo fight,” Estephan said. “People will want him [Canelo] fight with him [the winner].”

In the same organization in Quebec, heavyweights Guido Vianello and Arslanbek Makhmudov will face off in an fascinating fight of underdogs.

“It’s a great fight,” Estephan said. “They’re two boxers; two guys with solid jaws, both guys who can bring a lot of firepower to the ring. It’s going to be a war.”

“The winner has a great chance when you look at the gigantic fights and the heavyweight scene that’s happening and is going to happen, and then you go back to the game – and the guy who loses? It depends on how he loses. When you fight guys of that caliber, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, but maybe it depends on the performance of each guy.”

Abdullah Mason, Top Rank lightweight contender from Ohio, 7-0 Belarus’ Dzmitry Asanau, a two-time Olympian named Estephan, is highly rated and is expected to challenge for promotion, also as a player.

But the show could be stolen by 11-0 (10 KO) Cuban talent Osleys Iglesias. Estephan’s Eye of the Tiger organization poses a solemn threat at 168. They also have Erik Bazinyan, who BoxingScene reported was supposed to fight Diego Pacheco next month. That has become unlikely, and his promoter would not comment on the Canadian-based Armenian’s next move, but he is pleased with the threat his trio poses at 168.

“Mbilli, Iglesias and Bazinyan are three of the five best super middleweights in the world, so we are in a very enviable position, and this guy [Iglesias]what we’ve seen in his last two fights is terrifyingly terrifying,” he said. “So we’re looking for an opponent who means something. He’s real. He’s got skills, strength, an incredible team, and also good coaches around him. He’s very solemn and very newborn. And he’s got terrifying strength that I’ve rarely seen.”

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Boxing

Sebastian Fundora is the fighter to beat at 154, says Tim Tszyu

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Seven months after losing to Sebastian Fundora, Tim Tszyu described the unified WBC and WBO junior middleweight champion as a man he can beat at 154.

Twenty-nine-year-old Tszyu from Australia lost a split decision to replacement Fundora at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, surrendering his WBO belt in the process. The 26-year-old Fundora took advantage of Tszyu’s devastating second-round injury to claim a 115-113, 116-112 and 116-112 split decision victory.

Talking about his wealth of talent at the age of 154, Tszyu refused to acknowledge Fundora as the best junior middleweight, but believes he currently holds the titles needed to be considered the best.

“Man, the 154-pound division is heated right now,” Tszyu said in an interview with BoxingScene. “Names are popping up everywhere. There are belts all over the place, so it’s good to be in this division now.”

In addition to Tszyu, the junior middleweight division is currently loaded with plenty of talent, including Terence Crawford, Fundora, Israil Madrimov, Vergil Ortiz, Serhii Bohachuk, Brian Mendoza and Erickson Lubin, among others.

When asked who in the talent pool he wanted to face, Tszyu said he was open to fighting anyone at 154 pounds, but chose Fundora as the first option on his list. Tszyu also has plans to gain weight in the future.

“If everything presents itself and everything falls into place, then yes, of course. Why not? It all depends on the current situation. Changes in boxing. It’s like a fighter losing and then being next in line. That’s all. You can’t really predict the future much. It’s arduous.

“It’s very heated at 154 at the moment, so I’ll stay here. Fundora already has the belts at the moment, but no, I don’t think he’s the best.”

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Stephen Fulton is a mandatory WBA fighter for Nick Ball

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Image: Stephen Fulton is Nick Ball's WBA mandatory

WBA featherweight champion Nick Ball (21-0-1, 12 KOs) has a tough mandatory challenger in Stephen Fulton next for him after a grueling tenth-round knockout victory Saturday night over Ronny Rios (34-5, 17 KO) at the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool.

Former WBC and WBO super bantamweight champion Fulton’s boxing skills will be a gigantic problem for the 5’2″ Ball if this fight comes next, as he has skills the 27-year-old has not seen before.

It was Ball’s first defense of his newly won WBA 126-pound title, but he may have to face the mandatory Fulton (22-1, 8 KO) next if the World Boxing Association orders the fight. Ball said tonight that he wants to have a unification fight with one of the 126-pound champions next, but we’ll see if the WBA allows it.

Fulton lost to Naoya Inoue last July by eighth-round knockout in Tokyo, Japan. It was too much firepower for Fulton at the time, and he fought too cautiously against the Japanese star in front of his fans at the Ariake Arena. Against Ball, Fulton would be able to handle the style much easier because he’s not a marksman with Inoue’s speed and power.

WBA No. 1 Fulton looked spectacular last month, defeating Carlos Castro with a breathtaking 10-round split decision victory on the Canelo Alvarez vs. Edgar Berlanga on September 14 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

If the WBA allows Ball to place Fulton in a fight against one of the other featherweight champions, the logical fight would be against WBO champion Rafael Espinoza (25-0, 21 KO).

“I always want to eliminate them, no matter what. If I feel the pace, they will feel the pace ten times worse. Keep going until the bell rings and the fight is over,” Nick Ball said Social boxing.

“In boxing, it all comes down to who wants it the most. When you’re there, it’s just you and him. He is the one who wants it the most.”

Last update: 10/05/2024

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Tyson Fury enters his rematch with Usyk in destruction mode

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TYSON Fury says he approaches fights no differently now than when he was a youthful, rising boxer. He is currently training for the biggest moment of his life, after losing his undefeated record to Oleksandr Usyk in a May thriller, and as he approaches the age of 40, the self-proclaimed “Gypsy King” believes that a change of plans will lead him to revenge on December 21.

“I’m going to go into destroy mode now. The last time I went to box with him, I was careful and boxed [the] head straight for it. Let’s talk about the facts,” Fury buzzed.

“Anyone can get caught, which we see in a lot of heavyweight fights. But this time I won’t decide on points. I’m going to knock the motherfucker out.

Taking time during camp to chat in the TNT Sports studio, Tyson agreed with boxing specialist Steve Bunce that he is now fit, in good shape and willing to perform where it counts, even though the fight is almost three months away.

“I’m ready to rock and roll. Look, I don’t need a 12-week camp. I’ve been boxing all my life. I’m ready to leave tonight, tomorrow, next weekend, Sunday, Monday, Wednesday. It doesn’t really matter. I can get into the ring with 30 stones and do 15 rounds.

“I’m a natural at it. All I need is five or six weeks of sparring, this time good sparring, where I don’t have a wound that’s going to open up. We were very worried about the cut at camp because that cut came with a huge payout. And the cut didn’t even matter in the fight.”

That same week, he admitted his corner team would likely remain unchanged for the return leg in Riyad. The 36-year-old Tyson comprehensively addressed the issue of the laceration that caused initial confusion in the Usyks’ first fight, and the recovery became a race against time.

“Just three months, 12 weeks earlier, I had a 16-inch cut on my left eye that needed to heal. I’m not sure how long it takes for the wound to heal. I mean, how long? Fury asked Anthony Crolla for answers.

“It took maybe seven or eight weeks for the wound to heal and then another six or seven weeks of training. But there is always a risk that it will open and then you will lose your large fortune, you know what I mean?

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