A second round of talks between Christian Mbilli and Diego Pacheco have ended exactly as was the case on the first try – with no fight and Mbilli on the hunt for a new opponent.
BoxingScene has confirmed that Matchroom Boxing has withdrawn Pacheco’s name from consideration for the WBC-ordered interim super middleweight title fight. The development comes on the eve of a purse bid hearing scheduled for Tuesday after the negotiation deadline elapsed without a deal in place.
Had the fight moved forward, the winner would have become the WBC mandatory challenger to lineal and unified super middleweight champion Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez, 62-2-2 (39 KOs). The more likely scenario would have been an upgrade to full title status, as Alvarez’ 2025 campaign is all but booked.
The most recent development was eerily similar to the prior round of talks between Eye of the Tiger Management (EOTTM) – representing Mbilli, 28-0 (23 KOs) – and Matchroom, involving these two fighters.
Mbilli-Pacecho was previously ordered by the IBF last November as a final eliminator.
The matter went all the way to a purse bid hearing before Matchroom pulled Pacheco, 23-0 (18 KOs), from the mix. Pacheco – a 24-year-old contender from South Central Los Angeles – was already due at the time to face unbeaten Steven Nelson, whom he defeated via twelve-round, unanimous decision in their January 25 DAZN headliner from The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas.
Neither Mbilli nor Pacheco have a confirmed fight at this time, though the latter is believed to headline a DAZN show later this summer. No opponent was named, but Trevor McCumby, 28-1 (21 KOs) is rumored as the leading candidate to land the assignment.
Pacheco is also the number one contender with the WBO, with Mbilli ranked right behind him. In fact, the 29-year-old Cameroonian Frenchman is in the top two with the WBA, WBC and WBO.
Nevertheless, Mbilli is once again left without a dance partner. He was previously steered towards an IBF eliminator against Kevin Lele Sadjo. That ordered bout also went to purse bid, which was won by Y12 Boxing, Sadjo’s promoter who planned to stage the bout on May 8 in Paris, France.
Camille Estephan, head of EOTTM, insisted that his company was outbid unfairly. The basis of the claim was that EOTTM participated under the belief that the fight had to take place within 90 days from the January 30 hearing.
Y12 chose May 8 to coincide with Victory Day, a widely celebrated holiday in France. That line of thinking wasn’t enough to convince EOTTM that it was done in good faith, as a decision was made to pull Mbilli from the fight.
The development has left Mbilli out of the ring since last August, an unfortunate career turn after a three-win 2024 campaign. His third and final victory of the year was a ten-round, unanimous decision over former title challenger Sergiy Derevyanchenko last August 17 in Quebec City, Canada.
It was agreed upon by the WBC Board of Governor’s to allow an interim title into the mix given Alvarez’s planned 2025 campaign. The Mexican superstar is first due to face IBF titlist William Scull, 23-0 (9 KOs), for the undisputed championship on May 3 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The event will mark Alvarez’s Riyadh Season debut as part of a lucrative four-fight pact and his first career fight outside of North America, though a return to the U.S. is planned immediately thereafter. It would come in the form of a super fight with Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford, 41-0 (31 KOs), a four-division champ who would move up from junior middleweight for the proposed September blockbuster event in Las Vegas.
Given his lofty placement with three of the four major sanctioning bodies, Mbilli can only hope to factor in the mix by the time a full title shot becomes available. The willingness of his divisional peers, however, remains his greatest obstacle, more so than a shot at the top prize.
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