Upon settling in the area and keeping busy, he had impressed his coach Marc Ramsay. So much so that he felt comfortabe bringing him to a family event at former IBF middleweight champion David Lemieux's house.

New in town, he would that day meet Eye of the Tiger president Camille Estephan.

"He seemed like a gentleman, was very well spoken throughout," Estephan told The Ring of their meeting.

"I was impressed with him as a person right off the bat. For him, I think he saw my relationship with David and really appreciated the human element."

Both were on different paths but at similar stages of their respective journeys. When Mbilli later became a free agent, the pair ate lunch at an upscale Montreal steakhouse, where a deal was struck.

"We spoke about what he wants to do and what EOTT is doing. It was a very smart conversation, different from most boxing conversations I have. He was insightful, understood the business and our vision," the promoter said.

Estephan remembers Mbilli's nod to humble upbringing by his mum and family during negotiations.

"I thought I'm going to give this guy — within reason — whatever he wants and the negotiation will be very simple," he said. "That's what happened and the deal was made five minutes after that. I could see this guy is a very good fighter, has the genetics, discipline, motivation but a very good character. To last for a long time at the highest levels, you must have the right character. Fighters on that level are special, they're champions in and outside the ring."

They shared a common goal: To fight and beat Canelo Alvarez, a lofty aspiration in 2020.

Alvarez was and remains the sport's biggest star. He had just entered the 168-pound division with a dominant display against Ring and WBA champion Callum Smith, also claiming vacant WBC honors.

"That was clearly discussed, it was a fight we wanted from the beginning," he said. "We knew it's a long, hard road. I had these conversations with Golden Boy regarding Canelo-Lemieux but that didn't happen. Canelo split from them, so we never had that opportunity."

"I think this Canelo fight is coming at the right time. We went through a process to become champion."

Mbilli had plenty to do to snaring a title shot, never mind someone of Alvarez's magnitude. Early on in Mbilli's EOTT tenure, he made waves with a viral knockout of former world title challenger Najib Mohammedi in March 2022.

The manner in which he dealt with the moment stuck with Estephan, marking him down as different in a good way. It showed that while others marveled at what they witnessed, it was just another day at the office to him.

"Mohammedi had insulted Christian saying, 'He's no [Sergey] Kovalev, he's not this and that,' but Mbilli knocked him out and walked over, looking down at him. He's not an arrogant guy but knows what he's worth," Estephan said.

"That night a bunch of people wanted to go out, drink and celebrate. He went to his apartment home in Old Montreal, ate an apple and went to sleep. The next morning? He went running. That's what I talk about with hunger, nothing else matters. That's who he is, what he does and what it takes to beat Canelo, to be on top of the hill."

Since then, Mbilli has continued that tunnel vision winning eight of his nine outings. The lone blemish on his record came in a 10-round split draw with Lester Martinez on the Canelo-Crawford undercard last year.

"Christian deserves every bit of the success he's getting. With other fighters sometimes there's a lack of discipline, it wasn't an easy road but he's never diverted from the proper path," Estephan said.

"What Canelo has done is legendary, but the wolf top of the hill is never as hungry as the wolf climbing the hill and that's us. This is one of the reasons we'll prevail. At times it seemed like it's a very long road, but we never got frustrated, both felt if we keep doing the right thing, we're going to get there.

"We don't have the massive English market, Mexico or the U.S. Quebec is smaller but here we are today, so no matter how arduous things were, we got there together. I never doubted."