What to Know
- Canelo Álvarez is now a three-time world super middleweight champion, defeating Christian Mbilli by unanimous decision.
- The main event of the Mexico vs the World card showed that the veteran Mexican hasn’t lost a step in his year out of the ring.
- What’s next for the man considered the face of boxing? Expect a ring return in Saudi Arabia in 2027, the final fight on Canelo’s Riyadh Season contract.
In the 70th fight of his impressive career, no monsters, boogeymen, or vampires remotely threatened Canelo Álvarez in Riyadh on Halloween.
Álvarez of Guadalajara, Mexico (64-3-2, 39 KOs) won in a decisive performance over Christian Mbilli of Montreal, Quebec, Canada (29-0-1, 24 KOs) for Mbilli’s WBC World Super Middleweight title.
It was an adjustment hearing, “And the new!” in reference to Álvarez hearing the winning scores of 117-110, 116-111, and 115-112, with Mbilli docked a point in the eighth round for rabbit punching.
The Mexican champion has been named the winner 64 times, but after the humbling loss to Terence Crawford 13 months ago, the relief washed over his face.
“Oh, it’s so difficult to explain. It’s so difficult to explain. It’s something unbelievable. It ...