Canelo Alvarez once again holds gold at 168lbs following his victory over Christian Mbilli on Saturday.
Canelo defeated Mbilli by unanimous decision in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to win the WBC super-middleweight title, with the judges scoring the bout 117-110, 116-111 and 115-112 in favour of the Mexican.
It marked the first time in over 13 months that Alvarez was back in action, having not competed since losing his undisputed super-middleweight crown to Terence Crawford back in September 2025.
That event also served as Mbilli’s last outing when he was held to a draw against Lester Martinez, but there were some concerns that the inactivity may affect the 36-year-old Canelo more.
It certainly didn’t turn out that way though as he went on to claim the comfortable win on points, and posting on social media, trainer-turned-analyst Teddy Atlas praised Alvarez for the win, albeit feeling that he had opportunities to earn the stoppage.
“Canelo fought smart countering & picking spots well, Mbilli was more cautious than usual, in the end we missed our pick of Canelo by KO although there were chances.”
Canelo fought smart countering & picking spots well, Mbilli was more cautious than usual, in the end we missed our pick of Canelo by KO although there were chances. 👑 #canelovsmbili pic.twitter.com/9cjYZtOkyf
— Teddy Atlas (@TeddyAtlasReal) November 1, 2026
Canelo is now the latest titleholder at 168lbs, with Jaime Munguia holding the WBA belt and Osleys Iglesias in possession of the IBF title, while the WBO strap is vacant after Hamzah Sheeraz chose to recently relinquish the belt.
Despite being a two-time undisputed super-middleweight champion, it appears that pursuing that accolade for a third time isn’t Alvarez’s current goal, having revealed that he is targeting a rematch with Crawford if ‘Bud’ comes out of retirement.
