Christian Mbilli will face Rohan Murdock in a scheduled 10-round super middleweight co-feature on the undercard of IBF/WBC/WBO light heavyweight beltholder Artur Beterbiev’s title defense against Callum Smith at Videotron Centre, in Quebec City, Canada, on January 13.

A Top Rank/Eye of The Tiger co-promotion in association with Matchroom, the event will be broadcast on ESPN at 10:00 p.m. PT/ 7:00 p.m. PT.

Mbilli (25-0, 21 knockouts), rated at No. 2 by The Ring at super middleweight, represented France at the 2016 Olympics, losing to eventual gold medalist Arlen Lopez at the quarterfinal stage. He moved to Canada, where he is now a citizen and after taking the usual steps, has worked his way up the rankings.

The 28-year-old fighter has impressively dominated Ronald Ellis (UD 10), scored an eye-catching knockout over former title challenger Nadjib Mohammedi (KO 5), blitzed DeAndre Ware (KO 2), engaged in a thrill-a-minute war with Carlos Gongora (UD 10) and, most recently, stopped Demond Nicholson (KO 4).

“Rohan Murdock is a quality opponent with a completely different style from my recent opponents,” Mbilli said in a press release. “It will also be an opportunity to gain new fans before my crowning as a world champion. I look forward to starting training camp and can’t wait to be in Quebec on January 13 to wow the crowd!”

Murdock (27-2, 19 KOs), who hails from Australia, has been a professional since 2010. He suffered an early defeat but reeled off 22 consecutive wins before losing to then undefeated British fighter Zach Parker (TKO 11).

The 31-year-old has won his last three, including edging past countryman Isaac Hardman (SD 10) on the Tim Tszyu-Tony Harrison undercard in March.

“I am very excited about this opportunity and look forward to the challenge,” said Murdock. “I have been in enemy territory before and learned my lessons. I know what it takes to win at this level, and on January 13, I will emerge victorious.”

Up-and-comers Wilkens Mathieu and Leila Beaudoin are also scheduled to appear on the undercard against as yet unknown opponents.

The rest of the undercard will be announced in due course with some fighters who are appearing on the Eye of The Tiger show on November 14 potentially rounding out proceedings.

Questions and/or comments can be sent to Anson at [email protected].

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