Far from home, Mexican star Canelo Álvarez pushes to reclaim his title

In the Middle East, Saúl “Canelo” Álvarez will return to the ring after a 13-month hiatus in search of more titles.

In Riyadh, many time zones from his native Mexico and second home base in Las Vegas, Álvarez will attempt to take the World Boxing Council super-middleweight title from Christian Mbilli, an undefeated champion who has never confronted an opponent of Álvarez’s caliber.

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The Guadalajara-born boxer arrived in Saudi Arabia on Monday, where he was greeted by Faisal Bafarat, CEO of the General Entertainment Authority (GEA). The occasion has confronted uncommon problems, with one of the fights on the card canceled because of security issues raised by one of the boxers and criticism from figures in the boxing world who query the athletes’ security — particularly after several sporting occasions, including Formula One, WTA and WWE occasions have been canceled or relocated because of the warfare in the Middle East.

The struggle between Canelo (63-3-2, 39 KOs) and Mbilli (29-0-1, 24 KOs) headlines the “Mexico vs. The World” occasion at The Venue as half of the seventh version of Riyadh Season. The bout will be broadcast on pay-per-view via DAZN (10 a.m. Pacific Time, essential occasion around 1:10 p.m.).

After a period of inactivity that included elbow surgical procedure, Álvarez — beyond his opponents — faces his best enemy in Father Time, as demonstrated by his September 2025 loss to Terence Crawford, which value him his 4 super-middleweight titles. Crawford retired after that victory — the best of his profession — and Mbilli went from interim champion to full WBC champion.

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After that painful defeat, Álvarez acknowledged that his thoughts wasn’t on the struggle that night time.

“When you lose, you always review your mistakes, and at this level there’s very little difference between winning and losing,” said Álvarez, whose coaching concluded in Spain, where he shared a health club with heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk. “I did a good job preparing for that fight, but during fight week, my mind wasn’t in it.”

For this bout, Álvarez selected to end his preparation in Spain to keep away from the adjustment points he said he skilled during last 12 months’s struggle against William Scull, also in Riyadh.

Álvarez hasn’t knocked out an opponent since defeating Caleb Plant by technical knockout in 2021, and the last opponent he clearly knocked out was Sergey Kovalev in 2019. Although he has defeated several high-caliber opponents who were bodily bigger than him, he has been unable to secure a knockout, which has fueled hypothesis that his energy and stamina have declined over the years. If he loses, it would mark the first consecutive losses of his profession, and criticism regarding his decline would intensify. However, Álvarez has acknowledged that he feels no obligation to win.

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“I never think about the pressure. I feel like I work even better when I have it,” Álvarez said. “I don’t think about who says good or bad things.”

Read more: After loss to Terence Crawford, Canelo Álvarez acknowledges his opponent’s greatness

Álvarez did not struggle in either May or September in Las Vegas, on the dates reserved for boxing’s greatest stars. In May, David Benavidez took the slot after knocking out Gilberto Ramírez, and then Ryan García took the September slot to defeat Conor Benn. For many, García is rising as the man who will inherit Canelo’s slots in Las Vegas as the “new face of boxing.”

“I love boxing and I’m just focused on that. There’s a lot of young talent always coming out of Mexico, so we’ll see who’s next,” said Álvarez, who made his skilled boxing debut 21 years in the past.

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“He’s the most successful Mexican boxer in the sport,” said Eddy Reynoso, the Jalisco native’s supervisor and coach who requested for a spherical of applause for his fighter on Thursday at the information convention in Riyadh. Álvarez thanked him with a hug.

“We’re going to prove that Canelo is still up for the big challenges,” said Reynoso.

But for many, time has Canelo on the ropes. Both he and his staff have acknowledged that his physique has taken a toll from preventing since he was 13.

“Now I’m the challenger, but in my mind I’ve always been the champion since I was a kid,” Álvarez said.

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Mbilli, 31, a French-Cameroonian with an aggressive model and a high quantity of punches, won the interim title by knocking out Maciej Sulecki in the first spherical in June 2025. In his next struggle—on the same card as Canelo vs. Crawford and in entrance of a packed Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas — he fought to a hard-fought split-decision draw against Guatemalan Lester Martínez. This will be his first title protection as the undisputed champion.

“I think I have the right style to beat Canelo. I have a lot of power, a lot of speed, and a lot of skills to win this fight,” said Mbilli, who claimed to have noticed some errors by the Mexican during his struggle against Crawford.

“I don’t think age will be a factor; it will be the perfect time for me,” said Mbilli, who is 5 years youthful than Álvarez.

Álvarez is the favourite with the bookmakers thanks to Mbilli’s restricted expertise against elite opponents. Mbilli has a victory over Sergiy Derevyanchenko in 2024, a win over Sulecki and, in his title protection against Martínez last 12 months, he had a lackluster efficiency in which he landed punches but also took a lot of hits.

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Boxing amid worldwide battle

Álvarez’s struggle card is continuing as deliberate despite the wave of missile and drone attacks attributed to Houthi rebels. The attacks have left at least 20 useless and 370 wounded, and have compelled the closure of King Khalid International Airport for two weeks. Last week, the U.S. State Department ordered the evacuation of non-essential authorities personnel and their households from the nation because of the instability.

Accompanying Álvarez were Mexicans Carlos Emiliano, Manuel Salcedo, Rafael Espinoza and Jaime Munguía, as nicely as Saudi fighter Sultan Al-Muhammad — all of whom were on the struggle card. Mbilli had arrived days earlier.

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But one particular person who did not arrive was Lindolfo Delgado, a Mexican boxer who was left off the Oct. 31 card, where he was scheduled to struggle Arthur Biyarslanov for the vacant International Boxing Federation super-lightweight title. According to his coach, Robert García, his fighter did not make the journey due to logistical points, as he lacked data about flights and there were each day alerts about potential missile attacks. It has not yet been announced whether Biyarslanov will struggle a alternative boxer on the card.

“Why would we risk going there without any security guarantees? Flying to another country [Bahrain] and driving five to six hours to get to another location? That’s asking for trouble,” García said in an interview with Boxing Scene.

Read more: News Analysis: End of an period? Canelo Alvarez regarded worn out during loss Terence Crawford

On Wednesday in Los Angeles, promoter Oscar De La Hoya joined the criticism of the determination to maintain the bout in Saudi Arabia. He argued that promoter Turki Alalshikh and Álvarez should have been more accountable and moved the struggle to another venue.

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Because of the battle in the Middle East, quite a few top-tier occasions have been moved to other cities or were postponed. The record ranges from the Dakar Rally and the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix to the WTA Finals, the FIFA eSports Finals, and WWE’s Crown Jewel.

“It’s not very responsible when you have a U.S. consul saying it’s dangerous, that it’s a Category 3,” De La Hoya said to impartial reporter Albert Pérez. “How can you put the boxers’ lives at risk?… It’s interesting — in the times we live in, when ambition feeds you and feeds your ego, that’s what happens.”

The occasion is sanctioned by the WBC, and Mauricio Sulaimán, the group’s president, is in Riyadh.

“I’m coming to fight, to win a world championship,” Álvarez said on Thursday. “Whatever I have to do, wherever I have to go… I’ll do whatever it takes to win it.”

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This story initially appeared in Los Angeles Times.