Canelo Is Champion Again: Alvarez Beats Mbilli by Unanimous Decision for WBC 168-Pound Title

Thirteen months ago in Las Vegas, plenty of people wrote Canelo Alvarez's obituary as an elite fighter. Saturday night in Riyadh he tore it up. Alvarez beat Christian Mbilli by unanimous decision to win the WBC super middleweight title, handing the Cameroon-born, Montreal-based champion the first loss of his pro career.

The judges scored it 115-112, 116-111 and 117-110 for Alvarez, according to the official result reported by CBS Sports and The Independent. Alvarez moves to 64-3-2 (39 KOs). Mbilli drops to 29-1-1 (24 KOs).

A slow first half, then the old Canelo

Mbilli had his moments early. He pushed the pace through the opening rounds, and Alvarez, in his first fight since elbow surgery and the September 2025 loss of his undisputed crown to Terence Crawford, let him. CBS Sports, which also had it 117-110, wrote that Mbilli was competitive in the first half before the second half belonged to Alvarez, with the jab and the heavy counters doing the work.

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The eighth round turned it. Referee Hector Afu warned Mbilli for a low blow and then, The Ring reported, took a point from him for a right hand to the back of Alvarez's head. From there Alvarez picked his spots, mixed in uppercuts and kept Mbilli from building any rhythm. Mbilli landed a clean right with about a minute and change left in the 12th, but it was too little, too late.

The belt has its own story. The WBC stripped Crawford after he beat Alvarez for declining to pay its sanctioning fee, The Ring reported, and Mbilli was elevated from interim to full champion. Crawford retired in December. So the green belt goes back to the man who lost it in the ring, and that's about as clean as boxing politics gets.

"This feels like my first title"

Alvarez, 36, got emotional afterward. "This feels like my first title, now after 21 years as a professional; 16 years ago I won my first title, now I won the title again," he said, per The Independent. "I'm so proud, so proud of my team."

Oleksandr Usyk was in Riyadh to congratulate him, and afterward Usyk talked with DAZN about a possible cruiserweight fight with David Benavidez. The Ringside Whisperer has been on that one: here's her look at Usyk's cruiserweight plans and the Benavidez talk.

Fight week, for the record: both men made weight, Canelo at 167.6 and Mbilli at 167.8, and the card lost its IBF 140-pound title fight when Biyarslanov went home to Chechnya.

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On the undercard

• Jaime Munguia kept his WBA super middleweight title with a unanimous decision over Nikita Zon (116-112, 117-111, 117-111).
• Rafael Espinoza kept his WBO featherweight title when his fight with Ricardo Blandon was stopped in the third round.
• Reito Tsutsumi stopped Raymundo Rojas Garcia in the second round to go 6-0.
• Carl Jammes Martin beat David Picasso by split decision (95-94, 94-95, 96-93).
• Earlier on the prelims, Bek Nurmaganbet knocked out Marcos Vasquez in the first round to go 17-0, Carlos Rojo won by fourth-round TKO to go 22-0, Sultan Almohammed beat Erick Villegas by unanimous decision to go 6-0, and Brayan Leon won a unanimous decision to go 13-0.

Now the fun part: who does Canelo fight next, and does a rematch with Mbilli make sense? Make your call on Boxbid's Fight Picker, Guess the Purse and fan polls. They're free and just for fun.

Results and scores are from The Ring's and DAZN's official posts, CBS Sports, The Independent and The Ring's fight report.