Mbilli remains unbeaten by stopping Murdock
By Luc Long, The Canadian Press on January 13, 2024.
QUEBEC – Christian Mbilli retained his status as No. 1 contender for two super middleweight titles by battering Australian veteran Rohan Murdock for most of their six rounds of action on Saturday’s Artur Beterbiev-Callum Smith undercard at Videotron Centre in Quebec City. Cameroon’s Mbilli (26-0, 22 KOs), who lives and trains in Montreal, never dropped Murdock, but Murdock’s handlers instructed referee Steve St. Germain to stop the 10-round bout before starting the seventh round. Murdock demonstrated a lot of heart, but he was way behind on the scorecards and had taken countless flush punches from the aggressive, relentless Mbilli. Mbilli landed 190-of-366 power punches according to unofficial statistics. Murdock (27-3, 19 KOs), of Nerang, Australia, lost inside the distance for the second time in 13 years as a pro. Winning will ensure that the 28-year-old Mbilli remains the No. 1 168-pound contender in the rankings by both the WBA and WBC. The 2016 Olympian is also rated third by the IBF and fifth by the WBO. Murdock mounted some offence during the sixth round, when he threw more punches than in most previous rounds and mostly stayed away from the ropes. Mbilli backed Murdock into the ropes toward the end of that round, though, and viciously unleashed hard head and body shots on him. The game Murdock’s handlers nevertheless realized he had taken too much punishment to continue. In the first round Murdock slipped at the end of the round, but the referee did not count that as a takedown. In the second round Mbilli threw solid punches and got through Murdock’s defence many times. The Australian appeared visibly shaken by the champion’s punches. In the third round, Murdock seemed to regain his composure, but Mbilli came back with resounding right hooks that continuously found their mark. Murdock was getting pummeled by Mbilli in the fourth round and was even taunting him when he lost his mouth guard. In the fifth round Murdock lost some power on his punches as Mbilli went on the attack. The champion sensed his opponent was hurt and picked up his pace. In earlier fights, Leila Beaudoin of Temiscouata, Que., won a unanimous decision over Elizabeth Espinoza of Mexico. Christopher Guerrero of Montreal won a unanimous decision over Sergio Herrera of Mexico Imam Khataev of Australia defeated Rodolfo Gomez Jr. of Texas when the referee stopped the bout at 2:17 in the first round. Mathieu Wilkens of Quebec also won a unanimous decision against Mexican boxer Jose Arias Alavarez. Mehmet Unal registered a TKO at 57 seconds of the first round when the referee stopped the fight against Dragan Lepei of Italy, and finally, Australian Jason Moloney successfully defended his WBO bantamweight world championship when he registered an unpopular majority decision against challenger Saul Sanchez of California. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 13, 2024. 17-16
