Canelo Alvarez will attempt to reclaim a world championship when he fights Christian Mbilli in Riyadh on Saturday, October 31, 2026, with the card going ahead as planned despite the escalating conflict between Saudi Arabia and Houthi forces, which has led to other sporting events in the country being postponed of late.
The Mexican icon is hoping to become a super-middleweight title-holder once more in his first bout since seeing his second stint as undisputed champion at 168lbs end in a one-sided defeat by the now retired Terence Crawford in last year's super-fight in Las Vegas.
That was only the third loss of a professional career that has spanned 21 years and 68 fights, snapping a run of six successive wins since his defeat by Dmitry Bivol up at light-heavyweight in 2022. Floyd Mayweather Jr is the only other man to have beaten Canelo in the pro ranks.
Mbilli's rise to full champion
Mbilli was elevated from interim to full super-middleweight champion by the WBC in January after Crawford was stripped of the title due to a dispute over sanctioning fees and then retired. The Cameroonian-born citizen of France and Canada is undefeated at 29-0-1 and initially claimed the interim crown with a first-round knockout of Maciej Sulecki last summer, later retaining it in a 10-round split-draw with Lester Martinez on the undercard of Canelo-Crawford.
A rematch was ordered, as was a fight against former WBO champion Hamzah Sheeraz, but those were cancelled as Canelo emerged as the opponent for a daunting first title defence.
Time, TV channel and undercard
The main undercard is expected to begin at 4pm GMT on Saturday afternoon, which is 12pm ET, 11am CT and 9am PT in the United States. Ring walks for the main event are expected at approximately 8:30pm GMT, 4:30pm ET, 3:30pm CT and 1:30pm PT, though those exact times are subject to change.
The fight is being shown live via DAZN pay-per-view at a cost of £24.99, with an eight-day free trial of DAZN included.
Saturday's card is billed as 'Mexico vs the World', with a number of the country's top fighters taking centre stage alongside Canelo. Former Canelo opponent Jaime Munguia defends his WBA super-middleweight title for the first time against Russian southpaw Nikita Zon, while Rafael Espinoza puts his WBO featherweight belt on the line against Ricardo 'Big Bam' Blandon of Nicaragua.
Weigh-in results, prediction and odds
Canelo tipped the scales in Riyadh on Friday at 167.6lbs, while Mbilli was fractionally heavier at 167.8lbs. Both men were comfortably inside the 168lb super-middleweight limit.
The prediction is for Canelo to win a hard-fought, tense and highly-technical chess match on points to become a super-middleweight world champion once again. Odds via UK betting sites list Canelo to win at 4/11, Mbilli to win at 12/5 and a draw at 16/1, with Canelo to win on points or by decision at 8/11 and Canelo to win by knockout, technical knockout or disqualification at 4/1.
