Christian Mbilli vs Rohan Murdock Preview January 13th, 2024
There’s a pretty good 10-round super middleweight bout on tap from Quebec City, Canada this Saturday, January 13th as unbeaten Christian Mbilli of Cameroon takes on Rohan Murdock of Australia. The bout can be seen live in America on the ESPN platform on the undercard of the Artur Beterbiev vs Callum Smith fight while fans in the UK and Ireland can catch it on Sky Sports Arena. Mbilli last fought in September when he stopped Demond Nicholson in the fourth round to defend his WBC Continental Americas Super Middleweight Title, which will also be on the line this week. Murdock last fought in March when he edged Isaac Hardman by a 10-round split decision to win the vacant Australasian Super Middleweight Title.
Mbilli vs Murdock Betting Odds
Here are the betting odds from online sportsbook BetOnline.ag (full review here).
- Rohan Murdock +700
- Christian Mbilli -1250
My Pick
The 28-year-old Mbilli, who fights out of France, enters the ring with a perfect record of 25-0 with 21 Ko’s and has boxed 115 rounds since making his pro debut in 2017. He enjoyed a finer amateur career as he fought for his adopted homeland at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro where he was beaten in his third contest. He stands just over 5-feet-8-inches tall with a 72-inch reach and has quite a bit of power loaded in his fists with a current knockout ratio of 84 per cent.
Mbilli has been the distance just four times as a pro but was taken the 10-round distance in his two of his last three bouts by Carlos Gongora and Vaughn Alexander. As a pro he’s also captured the vacant WBC World Youth, WBC Youth Continental, and WBC Francophone Titles. He originally won the vacant WBC Continental Americas Super Middleweight Belt in 2021 when he stopped Ronny Landaeta in the third round. He has defended it against Ronald Ellis, Nadjib Mohammedi, DeAndre Ware, Vaughn Alexander and Carlos Gongora and Nicholson.
As for Murdock, he’s 31 years old and climbs into the ring with a mark of 27-2 with 19 Ko’s and has boxed 139 rounds since making his pro debut in 2013 following a pretty good amateur career which saw him reach the semifinals of the Australian National Championships in 2009 and the final in 2006. As a pro. He lost his third fight when he dropped a four-round majority decision to Steve Moxon in 2011 and didn’t lose again until Zach Parker stopped him in the 11th round in 2020 in a shot at the vacant WBO International Super Middleweight Title.
Murdock won the vacant WBO Asia Pacific Youth Super Middleweight Title in 2013 and the vacant WBO Asia Pacific Super Middleweight Belt in 2015. He then added the vacant WBO Oriental Super Middleweight Crown in 2017. His biggest wins have been over the likes of Isaac Hardman, Les Piper, Gaston Vega, Manny Siaca, Francisco Benitez, Damian Bonelli, Said Mbelwa, Les Sherrington and Pablo Nievas.
At 6-feet-tall with a 72-inch reach, Murdock has a four-inch height advantage over Mbilli with the same reach. And as far as power is concerned, Murdock has enough pop in his punches to cause some damage as 70.4 per cent of his victories have come by way of stoppage including four of his past six. However he will be taking a bit of a step up in class this weekend against Mbilli.
Prediction…
Mbilli and Murdock are both solid pros with skills and power but the unbeaten Mbilli definitely has more of an upside. Murdock has a puncher’s chance here but I expect Mbilli to remain unbeaten this weekend due to his superior boxing skills and movement with a stoppage being a pretty good bet.
Mbilli is a class above Murdock at this stage of their careers.
Play: Mbilli -1250 @ BetOnline.ag
Check out my recent boxing betting picks to see my current form.
Christian Mbilli betting • Rohan Murdock betting