RIYADH.- Saúl "Canelo" Álvarez is a world champion again. The Mexican superstar defeated previously unbeaten Christian Mbilli by unanimous decision on Saturday night at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, reclaiming the WBC super middleweight title more than a year after losing his undisputed championship to Terence Crawford.
The judges scored the 12-round DAZN pay-per-view headliner 115-112, 116-111 and 117-110 for Álvarez, who handed Mbilli his first professional defeat. Álvarez improved to 64-3-2 with 39 knockouts, while Mbilli fell to 29-1-1 with 24 knockouts.
Fighting for the first time in 13 months after his September 2025 loss to Crawford and subsequent arthroscopic surgery on his left elbow, the 36-year-old Álvarez answered questions about his condition with precise counterpunching and a strong second half, outlanding Mbilli 158-117. Mbilli was deducted a point in the eighth round for hitting behind the head, leaving him with even more ground to recover on the cards.
Álvarez described his performance as "perfect" after reclaiming one of the four titles he lost to Crawford, and said he would rest and then return to the gym.
In the co-main event, Mexico's Jaime Munguía survived a sixth-round scare to retain his WBA super middleweight championship against Nikita Zon, winning by unanimous decision with scores of 117-111, 117-111 and 116-112 to improve to 47-2. Rafael Espinoza also retained his WBO featherweight title, stopping Nicaragua's Ricardo Blandón by technical knockout at 1:22 of the third round.
The fight went ahead despite heightened security concerns in the Saudi capital, where the Saudi-led coalition said it had intercepted missiles and drones launched by Iran-aligned Houthi forces, three weeks after a missile strike on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh killed at least 12 people and wounded more than 300.
Fuentes: USA Today, 31 de octubre de 2026; Associated Press vía TSN, 31 de octubre de 2026; Sky Sports, 31 de octubre de 2026; DAZN News, 31 de octubre de 2026.