Canelo Alvarez will face Christian Mbilli this September in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, with the WBC super middleweight title at stake. The matchup comes after Alvarez’s unanimous-decision loss to Terence Crawford in Las Vegas, Nevada, in Sept. 2025, a defeat that ended his six-fight win streak and marked the third loss of his career.
The title now belongs to Mbilli, who was elevated from interim title holder to WBC world super middleweight champion after Crawford was stripped of the strap. Mbilli is unbeaten at 29-0-1 and has 24 knockouts, a record that gives the fight a sharp edge even before the bell. Alvarez, 35, was the former WBC, IBF, WBO and The Ring super middleweight champion before this matchup was set.
The path to this fight was messy. Alvarez had hoped for a rematch with Crawford, but Crawford retired as an undefeated 42-0, four-division champion. Mbilli, meanwhile, had already been ordered to fight Hamzah Sheeraz, and that bout fell through, clearing the way for him to land the biggest assignment of his career.
The news also drew a blunt reaction from David Benavidez, who dismissed the matchup with a profanity-laced outburst and asked, “Who is Mbilli!” For Alvarez, the fight is a chance to reset after the most damaging loss of his career. For Mbilli, it is a rare shot to defend a world title against one of boxing’s biggest names on one of the sport’s biggest stages.