Yesterday, Mike Coppinger reported that super middleweight contenders Christian Mbilli and Jaime Munguia were negotiating a clash “in the first quarter of 2026.” Lance Pugmire later expanded on the news,
confirming it with Eye of the Tiger Management’s Camille Estephan, ProBox’s Garry Jonas, and Lester Martinez, whom the WBC ordered Mbilli to rematch after their brutal draw in September.
The WBC originally ordered Mbilli (29-0-1, 24 KO) to fight Munguia (45-2, 35 KO) late last year, just days ahead of Munguia’s Tijuana homecoming bout against Bruno Surace. Surace, whom I called “ostensibly hapless” in that article, promptly ruined everything by smoking Munguia with a monster right hand.
This left Mbilli to brutalize Maciej Sulecki for the interim belt while Munguia Surace, only for Munguia to fail a drug test and leave his future once again in doubt. Mbilli instead faced the aforementioned Martinez, starting strong but fading late to settle for a draw in one of the year’s best action fights.
Martinez was supposed to get another crack at Mbilli, but here we are. Per Pugmire, Martinez will look to headline a ProBox show in March before targeting whoever wins this alliterative showdown.
As for the fight itself, it still looks like pure fireworks between offensive powerhouses. It’s just dumb for the WBC to allow this without stripping Mbilli of the belt.
