Canelo Alvarez-Christian Mbilli title clash set for Oct. 31

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

For those of you who lost hope of seeing Canelo Alvarez’s comeback fight, you may now take a deep breath and relax.

After the original Sept. 12, 2026, fight date was scrapped for undisclosed reasons, fight fans immediately speculated that the Alvarez-Christian Mbilli WBC super middleweight showdown would fall through.

However, reports on July 23, 2026, confirmed that the super middleweight clash had been rescheduled for Oct. 31, 2026, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

According to The Ring, the fight had to be rescheduled because of family matters in Alvarez’s camp.

After a nearly yearlong hiatus following his stunning defeat to Terence Crawford, the former undisputed super middleweight champion is ready to return to the ring, this time for the WBC belt.

The highly anticipated clash will be hosted by Turki Alalshikh, chairman of the General Entertainment Authority and co-founder of Zuffa Boxing, alongside UFC President Dana White.

Although some see it as an exciting and intriguing fight, many boxing fans and analysts cried foul over Alvarez’s decision, claiming that fighting Mbilli is another easy stepping stone toward reclaiming a boxing title after he lost all four of his major super middleweight belts to Crawford last year.

David Benavidez, one of boxing’s top names, was among the first to criticize Alvarez’s next career move.

“Who the f*** is Mbilli?” Benavidez said.

“Nobody wants to see that sh*t. You guys want to see that? I think it would have been better if he had fought Diego Pacheco.”

Mbilli is coming off a draw against Lester Martinez but earned high praise after defeating Maciej Sulecki, Sergiy Derevyanchenko, and Mark Heffron.

After Crawford was stripped of his WBC super middleweight belt, Mbilli was promoted from interim champion to full champion in January.

Alvarez, meanwhile, is still recovering from his loss to Crawford, which was one of the most disappointing defeats of his career.

Can Alvarez redeem himself and avoid a second consecutive professional loss, or will Mbilli prove the doubters wrong by pulling off the biggest win of his young career?