Christian Mbilli vs Carlos Gongora set for March 24th in Montreal

Camille Estephan of Eye of the Tiger Management has revealed that undefeated super middleweight Christian Mbilli will face Carlos Gongora on March 24th in what Lou DiBella calls a title eliminator.

Mbilli (23-0, 20 KO) was originally slated to meet Ali Akhmedov in a final eliminator after cruising past Vaughn Alexander in December, but BoxingNewsQC reports that Akhmedov never signed the contract. Hard to think of a more appropriate replacement than Gongora (21-1, 16 KO), who famously knocked Akhmedov out in late 2020.

Gongora has fought thrice since, a competitive decision loss to Lerrone Richards sandwiched between knockouts of Christopher Pearson and Oscar Riojas. Mbilli, for his part, boasts some solid wins over DeAndre Ware, Ronald Ellis, and Nadjib Mohammedi. It’s a quality matchup and a worthy eliminator.

I’ll admit to some curiosity as to how that part will play out, though. Mauricio Sulaiman won’t force Canelo to fight a mandatory anytime soon, so will the winner of this be next in line for the winner of David Benavidez vs Caleb Plant?