RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA -- Matchroom chief Eddie Hearn has three fighters on this weekend's Last Crescendo bill, topped by long-reigning former WBA light-heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol seeking revenge against undisputed champion Artur Beterbiev.

However, the immediate future surrounding one of his world-level contenders in the weight class directly below 175-pounds is an interesting topic of conversation during a week where it emerged Christian Mbilli (28-0, 23 KOs) will now pursue the WBC route as he targets a maiden world title fight opportunity.

On that development, WBC president Mauricio Sulaimán told The Ring: "Christian has been in the WBC for four years now with many Continental Americas title defences [8] which got him to the top position and now he's expressed to us, he's completely going the WBC route... even though a month ago, he had the IBF [situation].

He's in a very good position, we have communicated with him and Diego Pacheco, so we're waiting for their decision to see if they will stay with our process."

Mbilli, ranked #1 with the WBA and WBC, originally planned to box his French compatriot Kevin Lele Sadjo (24-0, 21 KOs) in an IBF-ordered title eliminator on May 8.

Instead, that has been nixed and Pacheco's promoter Hearn wonders whether a deal could be agreed given they're on rival platforms with separate promotions.

Pacheco, who outpointed then-unbeaten contender Steven Nelson (20-1, 16 KOs) in their January 25 headliner, was vocal about potentially facing former IBF titleholder Caleb Plant (23-2, 14 KOs) on the Canelo Alvarez vs. William Scull undercard in Riyadh come May 3.

He described the 32-year-old as the division's number two behind Canelo and wanted to test his skills against him in future, though Hearn insisted a Riyadh Season bill will have to wait.

"I don't think he'll be on that, probably going to headline his own card sometime in May but yeah, we'd love the Plant fight. If not him, Edgar Berlanga, Trevor McCumby, Mbilli, #1 with the WBO so will get called as the mandatory at some point, he's still a young man but has actually boxed in Saudi before."

Pacheco scored a first-round knockout win over 40-fight veteran Selemani Saidi as part of the Anthony Joshua vs. Andy Ruiz 2 bill in Diriyah, back in December 2019.

On the dilemma both promotions have in green-lighting a fight between two top-ranked contenders: "It's a great fight but we're building Diego on DAZN, they've got Mbilli on ESPN, not a pay-per-view fight so we can't share the rights. Does either one want to go on a rival promotion's bill?"