Christian Mbilli vs Sergiy Derevyanchenko Preview August 17th, 2024
There’s a pretty good 10-round super middleweight bout on tap from Quebec City, Canada this Saturday, August 17th as unbeaten Christian Mbilli of Cameroon takes on Sergiy Derevyanchenko of Ukraine with Mbilli’s WBC Continental Americas Super Middleweight Title on the line. The bout can be seen live in America on the full ESPN platform while fans in the UK and Ireland can catch it on Sky Sports Action. Mbilli last fought in May when he stopped Mark Heffron in just 40 seconds. Derevyanchenko last saw action in April when he beat Vaughn Alexander by a wide unanimous decision over 10 rounds and also dropped him the the eighth stanza.
Mbilli vs Derevyanchenko Betting Odds
Here are the betting odds from online sportsbook BetOnline.ag (full review here).
- Sergiy Derevyanchenko +350
- Christian Mbilli -500
My Pick
The 29-year-old Mbilli, who fights out of France, enters the ring with a perfect record of 27-0 with 23 Ko’s and has boxed 122 rounds since making his pro debut in 2017. He enjoyed a finer amateur career as he fought for his adopted homeland at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro where he was beaten in his third contest. He stands just over 5-feet-8-inches tall with a 72-inch reach and has quite a bit of power loaded in his fists with a current knockout ratio of 85.2 per cent.
Mbilli has been the distance just four times as a pro and was taken the 10-round distance in his two of his last five bouts by Carlos Gongora and Vaughn Alexander. As a pro he’s also captured the vacant WBC World Youth, WBC Youth Continental, and WBC Francophone Titles. He originally won the vacant WBC Continental Americas Super Middleweight Belt in 2021 when he stopped Ronny Landaeta in the third round. He has defended it against Ronald Ellis, Nadjib Mohammedi, DeAndre Ware, Vaughn Alexander, Carlos Gongora, Demond Nicholson, Rohan Murdock and Heffron.
Derevyanchenko is now 38 years old and fights out of Brooklyn, new York. He’ll climb through the ropes with a mark of 15-5 with 10 Kos. He’s also relatively small for a super middleweight at 5-feet-9-inches with a 67.5-inch reach so is just half-an-inch taller than Mbilli but gives up 4.5-inches in the reach department. Derevyanchenko has boxed 177 rounds since turning pro in 2014, is a tough nut to crack and has good power as 66.7 per cent of his wins have come by stoppage. However, he’s gone the distance in his last eight fights and is just 3-5 in those contests.
Derevyanchenko enjoyed a fine amateur career and boxed at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China as well as in the World Series of Boxing. His first pro defeat came via a split decision to his Brooklyn, New York stablemate Daniel Jacobs in a tilt for the vacant IBF Middleweight Title in October, 2018. He was then dropped in the first round by Gennadiy Golovkin a year later but fought back valiantly to lose a close unanimous decision in a slugfest for the vacant IBF and IBO Middleweight Belts.
He was beaten by Jermall Charlo via a unanimous decision in September, 2020 in a shot at the WBC Middleweight Title and was then edged by Carlos Adames via a 10-round majority decision 15 months later and then rebounded with a 10-round unanimous decision over Joshua Conley before losing to Jaime Munguia by 12-round unanimous decision in June, 2023 in a shot at the vacant WBC Silver Super Middleweight Title.
Therefore three of Derevyanchenko’s five defeats came in world title shots. So far he has fallen just short when stepping up in class but has beaten the likes of Jack Culcay, Dashon Johnson, Raul Munoz, Tureano Johnson, Jessie Nicklow, Sam Soliman, Kemahl Russell and Elvin Ayala. He’s been dropped before but still has a solid chin and a ton of heart to go with it. There’s never really a dull moment in a Sergiy Derevyanchenko fight as it leaves nothing in the ring.
Prediction…
Mbilli and Derevyanchenko both have solid power and chins but Mbilli is a full decade younger than Derevyanchenko and definitely has more of an upside at this stage of their careers. Derevyanchenko has a puncher’s chance here and could possibly outwork Mbilli but I expect Mbilli to remain unbeaten this weekend due to his superior movement and boxing skills. Fists should be flying in this contest on Saturday night and there’s a decent chance that it goes the distance. Mbilli enters the ring ranked the number two super middleweight in the world by the WBA, number one by the WBC and number three by the WBO and IBF while Derevyanchenko is ranked seventh by the WBC.
Mbilli is a class above Derevyanchenko at this stage of their careers and is 10 years younger.
Play: Mbilli -500 @ BetOnline.ag
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Christian Mbilli betting • Sergiy Derevyanchenko betting