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RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Canelo Álvarez 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 Álvarez, who handed Mbilli his first professional defeat. Álvarez 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. Álvarez 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, Álvarez put together combinations and found the accuracy to take charge as the fight progressed.
“Oh, it’s so difficult to explain,” Álvarez said. “It’s something unbelievable.”
Mbilli’s pressure and greater activity made the opening half competitive, particularly as he pushed Álvarez toward the ropes. Álvarez 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. Álvarez 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 Álvarez’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 Álvarez’s head.
Álvarez’s jab helped him control the 10th. Mbilli continued working to the body and landed right hands in the final round, but Álvarez finished emphatically, wobbling the champion with a late right.
Álvarez 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,” Álvarez said.
Asked whether Mbilli surprised him, Álvarez 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 Álvarez credited with shaping his career.
Álvarez’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,” Álvarez 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.
Álvarez 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.
