By Miguel Maravilla & Jeff Zimmerman
In a barnburner from the opening bell, exciting super middleweights Christian Mbilli (29-0-1, 24 KOs) out of France went toe-to-toe with Lester Martinez (19-0-1, 16 KOs) out of Guatemala for the WBC Interim super middleweight title at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas and live on Netflix worldwide. In the end, the fight was too close to call and ended in a draw as Mbilli kept his WBC interim super middleweight belt. The scores read 97-93 Martinez, 96-94 Mbilli, and 95-95.
Mblli, the more recognized name and highly ranked with the sanctioning bodies, came out like a bull and went right after Martinez, who although undefeated is less widely known. Mbilli tried to run through Martinez like he has with so many of his past opponents, but Martinez stood right in the fire with Mbilli and fired back punch for punch. Perhaps it was from the last couple of years training alongside pound for pound king Bud Crawford up in Omaha.
In the first two rounds, Mbilli showed off his fast hands and strength as he jumped on Martinez, but Martinez countered pushing Mbilli off him. Martinez gained confidence and in round three the momentum shifted as Martinez was moving Mbilli back as he seemed tired and the overall paced slowed down after the rapid start.
In round four and five, Martinez found a home with left and right uppercuts as Mbilli saw success to the head and body as both guys held their ground.
By round six and seven, Mbilli got a second wind, but it seemed Martinez was landing the bigger eye-popping shots. Through round 8-10, the fight picked up where it started as they started to exchange blow for blow to the roar of the crowd.
This was the type of fight Turki has been looking for – win, lose or draw – for fighters to come to fight and these two warriors did exactly that and did not disappoint and begs a rematch.
One note, besides being trained by Team Crawford led by Bomac, Martinez is also co-managed by Hall of Fame Referee Richard Steele.
Opening the Netflix card, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Mohammed Alakel (6-0, 1 KO’s) won a unanimous decision over Travis Crawford (7-5, 2 KO’s) of Corpus Christy, Texas in a super lightweight bout.
Alakel boxed and utilized the jab from the opening bell sticking Crawford in the process. Crawford pressed and let his hands go as Alakel boxed in the process connecting with counters early in the fight.
The Arab fighter showed his skills as Alakel eat Crawford to the punch outworking the Texan. A left-right hand combination by Alakel in the seventh connected flush in the seventh as he began to slide away with the fight. Crawford pressed Alakel late in the fight in the ninth as he landed a series of solid punches. Despite getting hit the previous round Alakel finished strong in route to the decision win.
The judges scored the bout 99-91, 99-91, and 98-92 as Alakel stays undefeated.
