By: Sean Crose
Although there’s no major fights this weekend in the world of boxing, there’s definitely going to be an interesting throwdown in Canada as the 38 year old Sergey Derevyanchenko takes on rising super middleweight Christian Mbilli at Quebec’s Centre Videotron. The bout, which is scheduled for 10 rounds in the supermiddleweight division, will be broadcast live Saturday night on ESPN+. There’s a lot riding on this match for Mbilli and probably even more riding on this contest for Derevyanchenko. For if Mbilli beats his man, the chances of the veteran Derevyanchenko ever being recognized as a force again will be over.
The Ukrainian fighter hasn’t taken the world by storm since his very impressive outings against Daniel Jacobs and Gennady Golovkin. True, Derevyanchecnko lost those battles, but the man performed well enough for some to believe he deserved the IBF middleweight title, which he had fought for on both those occasions. The Jacob’s fight was in 2018, while the Golovkin battle was in 2019. Since that time, however, Derevyanchenko has lost three out of five fights. Having lost most, if not all, of his major bouts, Derevyanchenko clearly wants to once again make his mark on the sport of boxing.
He has a tall order in front of him in Mbilli this weekend, though. For starters, Mbilli is around nine years younger than he. What’s more, Mbilli has stopped 23 of his 27 opponents within the distance. The French (by Cameroon) fighter has never lost a fight since turning pro in 2017. On the other hand, Mbilli has never faced a fighter like Derevyanchenko before. It’s worth remembering that fighters considered finished have come back and had brilliant second acts (George Foreman being the prime example of this). It’s also worth keeping in mind that Derevyanchenko has only lost to fighters of note (besides Jacobs and Golovkin, Derevyanchecnko has been bested by Carlos Adames, Jermall Charlo and Jaime Munguia).
With all that being said, Mbilli and his team deserve credit for being willing to face Derevyanchenko at this point in Mbilli’s career. Mbilli is considered one of the top super middleweights in the world. With Canlo Alvarez ruling over the division with an iron fist, its hard to find a more lucrative weight category in the current boxing scene. In other words, Mbilli is taking a real risk here. Again, it’s nice to see a young fighter being willing to grind out a successful career through hard work and talent rather than hype and careful marketing.