Canelo Alvarez regains WBC super-middleweight title with unanimous decision over Christian Mbilli

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- Canelo Alvarez regained the WBC super-middleweight championship on Saturday night, using precise counterpunching and a strong second-half performance to defeat Christian Mbilli by unanimous decision.

The judges scored the fight 115-112, 116-111 and 117-110 for Alvarez, who handed Mbilli his first professional defeat. Alvarez improved to 64-3-2, while Mbilli fell to 29-1-1.

Returning for the first time since losing his undisputed championship to Terence Crawford in September 2025, the 36-year-old Mexican became a world champion again.

The victory carried significance beyond the belt. Alvarez faced questions about whether his championship years had ended with the Crawford defeat. Against an unbeaten opponent whose pressure presented a test of his ability to sustain his work, Alvarez put together combinations and found the accuracy to take charge as the fight progressed.

"Oh, it's so difficult to explain," Alvarez said. "It's something unbelievable."

Mbilli's pressure and greater activity made the opening half competitive, particularly as he pushed Alvarez toward the ropes. Alvarez answered with body punches and counters, then began finding greater success in the sixth with a right uppercut and straight right.

The change was in the rhythm of the exchanges. Alvarez increasingly made Mbilli respond to his punches, interrupting the champion's advances with cleaner shots. At times, he lowered his hands and beckoned Mbilli forward, inviting exchanges from positions where he could counter.

An uppercut punctuated Alvarez's seventh round, and he followed with combinations in the eighth. Mbilli's task became more difficult when referee Hector Afu deducted a point for a punch to the back of Alvarez's head.

Alvarez's jab helped him control the 10th. Mbilli continued working to the body and landed right hands in the final round, but Alvarez finished emphatically, wobbling the champion with a late right.

Alvarez credited trainer Eddy Reynoso's instructions to move, box and maintain his jab.

"Do what Canelo do the best. And that's what I did," Alvarez said.

Asked whether Mbilli surprised him, Alvarez said he expected a strong opponent but believed he had limited the champion's offense.

"It's difficult to throw punches with me," he said.

The celebration brought an emotional tribute to Eddy Reynoso and Chepo Reynoso, whom Alvarez credited with shaping his career.

Alvarez's tearful celebration and tight embrace with Eddy Reynoso offered a different image from his composed work inside the ropes. After 12 rounds spent managing Mbilli's pressure, he struggled to describe what becoming a champion again meant. His thanks quickly shifted from the achievement to the people who helped him reach it.

"I'm so proud, so proud of my team," Alvarez said.

He also thanked his family watching from afar and joked that his wife, who could not attend, had told him not to return without the championship.

"I won the title," he said.

Alvarez offered no immediate commitment to another opponent.

"I'm gonna rest. I'm gonna keep learning. I'm gonna keep working hard," he said.

In the co-main event, Jaime Munguia survived a sixth-round scare to retain his WBA super-middleweight championship against Nikita Zon. Munguia won by unanimous decision, with scores of 117-111, 117-111 and 116-112, recovering after Zon hurt him to improve to 47-2.

Rafael Espinoza retained his WBO featherweight title with a technical knockout of Ricardo Blandon at 1:22 of the third round. A straight right opened a cut above Blandon's left eye, and the referee stopped the fight on the ringside physician's recommendation. Espinoza improved to 29-0 with 25 knockouts.

Reito Tsutsumi scored two second-round knockdowns before stopping Raymundo Rojas Garcia at 2:27. Tsutsumi improved to 6-0 with five knockouts.