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

MONTREAL – You don’t get paid overtime.

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

Mbilli (27-0, 23 knockouts), ranked No. 2 at 168 by The Ring, and his English opponent jumped into position in the first seconds. Billi worked Heffron into the ropes and landed a brutal body shot. Heffron went down and was in pain 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 speed of the belt allows Mbilli to move forward with the most important fight that is already on the line. He will next face three-time middleweight champion Sergiy Derevyanchenko in Quebec City on August 17.

Heavyweight Arslanbek Makhmudov also suffered his only career loss with a second round knockout to Miljan Rovcanin.

The big-Montreal-based Russian was knocked out three times in the fourth round by Agit Kabayel last December. He was in no mood to mess around Saturday night.

Makhmudov caught Rovcanin (27-4, 18 KOs) in the opening round and nearly sent him to the ropes. Rovcanin managed to stand up and hold his own during the ensuing attack. It was a stay of execution as Makhmudov (19-1, 18 KOs) floored Rovcanin with a fearsome combination. Referee Steve St. Germain continued to count out Rovcanin at 2:32 of the second.

Mehmet Unal was the first fighter to stop Rodolfo Gomez Jr. (14-8-3, 10 KOs). The undefeated light heavyweight stopped the fight at 2:17 of Round 4. Unal (10-0, 8 KOs) hurt Gomez in the opening round and left him hanging.

There is no science in what Unal does, he gets close to the high guard, and comes out with the whales with blows to the head and body. He is not the brightest of all the boys, but if you fail to catch him, he will be in the minority. He caught Gomez and hurt him again for the fourth time, prompting referee Martin Forest to step in and stop the fight. Gomez has previously taken Diego Pacheco, Lester Martinez and, most recently, Ahmed Elbali to a losing effort.

Up-and-coming middleweight Wilkens Mathieu (9-0, 6 KOs) knocked down Przemyslaw Gorgon (17-13-2, 6 KOs) four times en route to a fourth-round stoppage. The 19-year-old, who picked up his fourth win of the year so far, first put the Pole down just over a minute into the contest with a well-timed uppercut. Gorgon hung tough but got down twice in the second before he was knocked down in the fourth round and stopped by referee Alberto Padulo Jr. at 0:38 of the round.

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

Canadian welterweight Christopher Guerrero continued his impressive streak when he stopped Kenny Larson at 2:16 of the opening round. The 23-year-old welterweight hurt Larson and dropped him twice forcing the referee to jump and Larson unable to continue. While some of Guerrero’s fellow, imported, may get more attention, Guerrero is improving every time I see him and may be Eye of The Tiger’s best Canadian fighter.

Canada’s Alexandre Gaumont was looking for his second win of the month. It came in questionable form, as he escaped with an eight-round split decision over the undefeated Santiago Fernandez.

Gaumont was given everything he could by the visiting Argentine. The 28-year-old hit a right hand in the third and then again in the fourth. Fernandez took Gaumont’s head back with a four-pound combination and hurt the local fighter.

It looked like Gaumont needed something big in the last two rounds. It didn’t come though as the final cards made that point moot. Judges Richard DeCarufel (78-74) and Sylvain Leblanc (77-75) scored for Gaumont (11-0, 7 KOs). Judge Pasquale Procopio (78-74) awarded the fight to Fernandez (8-1-1, 4 KOs) on the opposite card. This decision was received with enthusiasm in the area.

Rising lightweight Jhon Orobio was forced into a first round fight by Alexis Camejo.

The 20-year-old Montreal native hurt Argentina’s Camejo (8-3-2, 1 KO) multiple times. However, Orobio (9-0, 8 KOs) was unable to finish off his opponent. He should have instead been determined to win the closing game. Scores were 40-36 on all three cards in the four-round lightweight contest.

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