Paulie Malignaggi believes one man’s sheer intensity and work rate will prove decisive when Canelo Alvarez squares off with Christian Mbilli.
Their super-middleweight encounter is taking place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on October 31, with Canelo citing family matters as the reason for its postponement from September 12.
Yet still, the Mexican is entering a WBC title shot after losing his undisputed crown to Terence Crawford, who emerged with a unanimous decision victory last September.
‘Bud’ then vacated his four belts after announcing his retirement in December, allowing Mbilli to be elevated from ‘interim’ to full WBC champion at 168lbs.
The Frenchman had defended his interim title with a 10-round draw against Lester Martinez on the Canelo-Crawford undercard, producing a performance that perfectly reflected his high-volume style.
With over a year of inactivity, though, it remains to be seen whether Mbilli will be equally relentless against Alvarez, who appears to be nearing the end of the road.
But despite losing to Crawford, the 36-year-old arguably delivered his most impressive performance in a good few years, perhaps suggesting that he is not quite over the hill.
According to a FightHype interview with former world champion Malignaggi, however, Canelo’s decorated career could finally come to an end against Mbilli, despite him being a strong favourite to win with the bookmakers.
“I don’t think he’s going to beat Mbilli, because I think Mbilli brings too much of a pace and one thing Canelo hates is a [high] pace.
“God forbid he beats Mbilli, he’ll trap that [WBC] belt again. [He won’t] give any of the good fighters a shot at it.
“You’ve just gotta move on, dude. You had your career – it was a good career, congratulations – now get the hell out of here.
“Look how the super-middleweight division has blossomed since this guy got beat [by Crawford].”
The remaining champions at 168lbs include Hamzah Sheeraz, Osleys Iglesias and Jaime Munguia, who respectively hold the WBO, IBF and WBA belts.
