THE CHOSEN ONE
Mbilli powered past Marlon Delgado to the quarterfinals of the 2016 Olympic boxing tournament.
Either the guard had accepted a security gig without knowledge of or interest in who or what he was protecting, or he was not here working for Christian Mbilli. More important context clues, such as the lineup of non-male fans in Montreal Victoire apparel, soon makes it clear that the fans are here to see the newly minted women’s hockey champions – not the other world champion in the building.
The window on the steel door of Marc Ramsay’s gym is papered off with a sign in French telling people that the gym will be closed until August 29, as Mbilli will be training to face Canelo Alvarez in Saudi Arabia in September. It’s two days after the announcement that the fight has been postponed until October, so the sign hasn’t been changed yet, but the approach isn’t changing anyway.
Mbilli is seated in an office with two blue translucent garbage bags full of Rival boxing gloves and a pack of Sharpies. He’s dressed in a designer suit befitting the aforementioned neighborhood of which he is also a resident, his jacket slung over the back of a computer chair as he completes the first drill of the day, signing 42 gloves for various dignitaries attending his now-rescheduled bout. A producer
working on a documentary about him, Julie Bertrand, informs him that the Victoire players, including star player Marie-Philip Poulin, wanted to come up and visit. As well-acclimated to his Canadian surroundings as he is, Mbilli is not yet well-versed in hockey. “It’s not my sport, just the froid of it, just the cold of the arena. I don’t know how to skate,” says Mbilli. “Boxing
too, I never watched boxing. Even now, I’ll watch some fights, but not much. I think it’s more important to do it than to watch it.” With about 20 seconds’ notice and a 10-second crash course on who he would be meeting, Mbilli had to turn on his Public Figure charm. He quickly found common ground with Poulin, who like him represented her country at the Olympics, and exchanged his
WBC super middleweight title belt for the hefty Walter Cup trophy. While the two of them chatted, two other Victoire players, perhaps unaware of which squared circle they were stepping into, performed a professional wrestling sequence until one of them was pinned and a third player counted to three. Before long, Mbilli had navigated a potentially uncomfortable situation and got the photo op that the whole
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