Future International Boxing Hall of Famer and multi-division world champ Canelo Alvarez now has another date for his 2026 return. This, as he confirmed that he'll fight newly elevated WBC super middleweight champ Christian Mbilli October 31st in Saudi Arabia.
Mexican superstar Canelo Alvarez’s fight with newly elevated WBC super middleweight titlist Christian Mbilli, which was scheduled for September 12th but postponed late last month until October, now has a new confirmed date. The fight will now take place October 31st in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Alvarez made the announcement on Wednesday afternoon during a broadcast interview with combat sports insider/host, Ariel Helwani.
The veteran, who is yet to fight this year told Helwani,
“I’m always very disciplined with my training and I wasn’t ready to be in the training camp,” Alvarez said. “So, that’s why I postponed the fight because I need to attend family first. All good now. I’m ready to train and we are going to be (fighting) on Oct. 31.”
As we previously wrote and insider Dan Rafael had learned first, the delay to move off the September date was not related to injury or Alvarez’s elbow surgery last Fall but rather because he was simply not ready to return to training camp, yet, this Summer and was enjoying time with his new daughter, who was born late last year.
The 36 year old Alvarez, 63-3-2, 39 KOs, who just celebrated a birthday last week, has not fought since losing the undisputed super middleweight title on a decision to Terence Crawford in a mega-fight in Las Vegas last September. He had left elbow surgery a few weeks later to clean up loose particles, while contemplating his return.
The WBC stripped Crawford soon after the win over Canelo over unpaid sanctioning fees and Mbilli was later elevated to full titlist in January.
This came after Mbilli, 29-0-1, 24 KOs, a 31 year old Cameroon native fighting out of Montreal, had fought a wild draw in a WBC interim title bout with Argentina's Lester Martinez on the same Alvarez-Crawford undercard.
Alvarez, meanwhile, is set to fulfill the third fight of his multi-bout, massive financial agreement with promoter Turki Alalshikh and the Saudi Entertainment Authority, which is why the bout will take place in Riyadh.
His previous outing in an undisputed defense against Cuban-born William Scull was widely criticized for its lack of action. Scull spent much of the 12 round contest circling the ring, avoiding sustained exchanges, and throwing few punches, resulting in a boring bout.
It also is a compelling point that Alashikh is the mega money behind the upcoming Ryan Garcia-Conor Benn WBC welterweight title fight that had been long rumored for the same September 12th date, but in Las Vegas.
That fight was finally confirmed last week and ends the scheduling nightmare of trying to have two tremendous bouts with massive interest on the same day "half a world" apart with Canelo in Riyadh and this new showdown for Mexican Independence Day weekend in Las Vegas.
