In a pure masterclass, super middleweight contender Christian Mbilli (26-0, 22 KOs) made a statement with a sixth-round destruction of the tough-as-nails Rohan Murdock (27-3, 19 KOs) in their chief support bout on Saturday night at the Centre Videotron in Quebec City, Canada.
Murdock was firing back shots the entire fight, but he had no power whatsoever to gain the respect of Mbilli, and that was his entire problem. McBilli was there to be hit, but Murdock didn’t have enough pop to get him to back off.
Dominating Destruction, But Concerns Emerge
By the fifth round, Mbilli looked tired, and his pace slowed. Murdock was able to land more of his punches despite being hurt repeatedly, but it was no use. He just couldn’t connect with anything hard enough to get Mbilli to stop throwing.
Mbilli immediately called out undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez after the fight.
Whether he gets that fight is questionable, though, because Mbilli isn’t well-known enough yet for the U.S. fans to be eager to watch Canelo defend against him. It would be better for Mbilli’s team to put him in with WBA ‘regular’ super middleweight champion David Morrell Jr. or WBC interim champ David Benavidez next if they dare.
Mbilli landed a gawdawful number of power shots against the weak, defenseless Aussie, Murdock, hitting him seemingly at will with shots, hurting him in the fifth and sixth rounds.
After the sixth round, Murdock’s corner wisely pulled him out of the contest to save him.
Defensive Flaws Exposed
All in all, it wasn’t a great performance from Mbilli, as he showed too many defensive holes in his game to be considered great to any of the top super middleweights in the division.
Although he’s got a good engine, high work rate, and respectable power, Mbilli isn’t an elite-level 168-pounder, and he’d have problems if he fought the likes of Canelo, Morrell, Benavidez, Jaime Munguia, or Jermall Charlo.
Mbilli’s power isn’t on the level of the top fighters in the division. We saw that tonight with him hitting the second-tier fighter Murdock with punch after punch but not hurting him until the fifth. Towards the end, Mbilli looked tired and sloppy.
