Christian Mbilli Makes Quick Work Of Mark Heffron, Sets Up August Showdown With Sergiy Derevyanchenko

MONTREAL – You don’t get paid for overtime.

World-rated super middleweight Christian Mbilli made quick work of England’s Mark Heffron. A left hook to the body folded Heffron in half and forced a ten count. The ESPN+ aired main event ended just 40 seconds into the opening round Saturday at the Centre Gervais Auto, Shawinigan, Quebec, Canada.

Mbilli (27-0, 23 knockouts), rated No. 2 at 168 by The Ring, and his British opponent jostled for position in the opening seconds. Mbilli worked Heffron along the ropes and found a home for the brutal body shot. Heffron went down and was in agony unable to continue and was counted out by Mike Griffin.

Heffron (30-4-1, 23 KOs) has been stopped in all four career defeats.

The quick nature of the bout allows Mbilli to move forward with a more significant fight already in queue. He will next face former three-time middleweight title challenger Sergiy Derevyanchenko in Quebec City on August 17.

Heavyweight Arslanbek Makhmudov rebounded from his lone career defeat with a second-round knockout over Miljan Rovcanin.

The big-Montreal-based Russian was dropped three times in a fourth round knockout to Agit Kabayel last December. He was in no mood to mess around on Saturday night.

Makhmudov caught Rovcanin (27-4, 18 KOs) in the opening round and nearly sent him through the ropes. Rovcanin was able to get up and hold in through the ensuing onslaught. It was a mere stay of execution as Makhmudov (19-1, 18 KOs) floored Rovcanin with a fearsome combination. Referee Steve St. Germain proceededd to count out Rovcanin at 2:32 of the second.

Mehmet Unal became the first fighter to stop teak-tough Rodolfo Gomez Jr. (14-8-3, 10 KOs). The unbeaten light heavyweight closed the show at 2:17 of Round 4. Unal (10-0, 8 KOs) hurt Gomez in the opening round and had him hanging on.

There isn’t any science to what Unal does, he gets in close with a high guard, and whales away with punches to head and body. He’s not the flashiest of guys but if you can’t hold him off he’s going to be a handful. He caught up with Gomez and had him hurt again in the fourth prompting referee Martin Forest to intervene and stop the fight. Previously Gomez had taken Diego Pacheco, Lester Martinez and, most recently, Ahmed Elbali the distance in losing efforts.

Up-and-coming super middle Wilkens Mathieu (9-0, 6 KOs) dropped Przemyslaw Gorgon (17-13-2, 6 KOs) four times en route to a comprehensive fourth round stoppage. The 19-year-old, who scored his fourth win of the year so far, initially put the Polish journeyman down just over a minute into the contest with a perfectly timed uppercut. Gorgon hung tough but was down twice more in the second before touching down in the fourth round and was then stopped by the referee Alberto Padulo Jr. at 0:38 of the round.

In middleweight action Moreno Fendero (6-0, 4 KOs) dominated experienced Argentine journeyman Rolando Mansilla (19-15-1, 9 KOs) to claim a six-round unanimous decision. Mansilla was able to fiddle his way through the fight and avoid being hurt though was never really a threat to Fendero. The Frenchman went on to win 60-54 x 2 and 60-53.

Canadian welterweight Christopher Guerrero continued to impress when stopped Kenny Larson at 2:16 of the opening round. The 23-year-old welterweight hurt Larson and dropped him twice forcing referee to jump in with Larson in no position to continue. While some of Guerrero’s stablemates, who have been imported, may get more attention, Guerrero is improving every time I see him and may be Eye of The Tiger’s best Canadian fighter.

Canadian middleweight Alexandre Gaumont was looking for his second win this month. It came in dubious fashion, as he escaped with an eight-round split decision over previously unbeaten Santiago Fernandez.

Gaumont was given all he could handle by the visiting Argentinean. The 28-year-old prospect buzzed by a right hand in the third and again in the fourth. Fernandez snapped back Gaumont’s head with a four-punch combination and hurt the local fighter.

It looked like Gaumont needed something big in the last two rounds. It never came though the final scorecards made that point moot. Judges Richard DeCarufel (78-74) and Sylvain Leblanc (77-75) scored it for Gaumont (11-0, 7 KOs). Judge Pasquale Procopio (78-74) awarded the fight to Fernandez (8-1-1, 4 KOs) on the dissenting card. The decision was greeted with boos around the area.

Rising lightweight prospect Jhon Orobio was forced to go the distance for the first time by Alexis Camejo.

The 20-year-old Montreal-based Colombian hurt Argentina’s Camejo (8-3-2, 1 KO) on several occasions. However, Orobio (9-0, 8 KOs)  was unable to get rid of his game opponent. He had to instead settle for a shutout win. Scores were 40-36 on all three cards in the four-round lightweight contest.

Questions and/or comments can be sent to Anson at elraincoat@live.co.uk and you can follow him on 

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