Boxing
Christian Mbilli Aims to Dethrone Canelo Alvarez During Riyadh Season Showdown in October
Christian Mbilli looks at Canelo Alvarez and sees an ancient relic from a bygone boxing era, a fighter whose dominance was artificially preserved through years of soft, handpicked opposition before reality caught up to him last year.
WBC super middleweight champion Mbilli (29-0-1, 24 KOs) will defend his belt against Canelo (64-3-2, 39 KOs) on October 31 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The bout tops a DAZN pay-per-view card. Mbilli knows the clock has run out on Canelo’s smoke-and-mirrors run. After the interviewer noted that Mbilli had previously labeled the 36-year-old Canelo old and past his peak, the champion refused to soften his stance.
“Of course. Yes, it’s very good timing for me to take him. He’s still very dangerous. He has big power and good counterpunching. I have to be careful, but I think it’s very good timing for me,” Mbilli said. “I think my pressure and my energy [are advantages]. I put a lot of energy and a lot of pressure.”
Canelo took this fight because Riyadh offered a massive paycheck to headline on October 31, but stylistically and physically, he is playing with fire.
When Gennadiy Golovkin was 36, he was still tracking fighters down, jabbing their heads back into the cheap seats, and maintaining relentless pace round after round. Canelo, 36, turned professional at fifteen years old. He has sixty-nine fights, over five hundred grueling rounds, and two full decades of wear and tear grinding away at his joints. His athletic odometer reads more like forty-two than thirty-six. Canelo has turned into a high-end luxury vehicle running on fumes. In his last stretch of fights, the pattern became undeniable.
He works in short sixty-second bursts, leaning back on the ropes, trying to hide behind a tight guard while taking deep breaths. Once that gas tank hits empty around round six, he does not recover. There is no second wind. Against Terence Crawford, that inability to sustain work resulted in complete technical surrender. He just stood there, unable to mount offense, looking bewildered because his physical vehicle refused to respond to the commands in his brain.
Mbilli is an aggressive pressure fighter; walking straight toward him would deliver easy counterpunching opportunities. That is the old Canelo arrogance talking, the memory of what he used to do to brawlers who lacked defense. The problem for Canelo is that Mbilli is not going to stand politely at mid-range, admiring his reputation or waiting for permission to throw. Mbilli unloads eighty to ninety punches a round. He crowds, headbutts, leans, and hammers away with bad intentions.
If Canelo gasses out after four rounds of trading and parks himself on the ropes looking for rest, Mbilli will not let him breathe. He will drown him under a relentless avalanche of leather. Unless Canelo can catch Mbilli early with a perfect, fight-altering counter hook down the pipe to force total respect, this matchup has all the ingredients of an embarrassing changing-of-the-guard beatdown.
Watching a legendary fighter get battered on his feet simply because his legs and lungs died on him five rounds earlier is one of the ugliest sights in boxing. Canelo may find out the hard way in Riyadh that you cannot overhaul a shot engine inside twelve rounds against a relentless physical wrecking ball.
If Mbilli dominates Canelo and exposes his shot gas tank in October, Riyadh Season finds itself holding a depreciated asset with one contractual commitment left to fulfill.
That puts the Saudi organizers in an awkward matchmaking bind. A rematch with Mbilli makes zero promotional sense. You pointed directly to the blueprint Canelo has followed throughout his entire career. He is not Sugar Ray Robinson traveling to Europe to instantly avenge Randy Turpin. Canelo treats losses as business write-offs.
When Floyd Mayweather schooled him, Canelo walked away. When Dmitry Bivol outclassed him, Canelo made polite noise about a return, then ran straight back to Gennadiy Golovkin and John Ryder, never stepping anywhere near Bivol again. After Terence Crawford outpointed him, Canelo accepted the check and moved on. If Mbilli batters him, Canelo predictably will never mention Mbilli’s name again.
That leaves Riyadh Season with a damaged commodity to burn off in their final contractual bout.If Turki Alalshikh turns around and pairs Sheeraz with Canelo after Mbilli dismantles the Mexican veteran, the optics would be rotten to the core.
You would have Sheeraz, an exposed belt-dropper branded as a runner by hardcore fight fans, standing across from a battered, shot version of Canelo coming off a stoppage or a one-sided drubbing. It would not be an elite championship contest. It would be an artificial, manufactured cash-out designed to prop up a fighter who just sprinted away from his real test.
Promoting that as a marquee event would be grotesque. The storyline cannot be sold as two supreme titans colliding. The hardcore fans would view it as a disgraced runner being rewarded with an elderly, worn-out punching bag who could not keep his legs under him against Mbilli.
If Canelo gets embarrassed on October 31, tossing him into the ring with Sheeraz would not fool anyone. It would just be a cynical liquidation sale where the promoter tries to pass a manufactured torch to an anointed favorite who was terrified of fighting his own mandatory.
Vergil Ortiz Jr. missed out on a massive payday north of 16 million dollars after a clash with Jaron Ennis got shut down, according to his father. That turns the scheduled meeting with Keith Thurman into an expensive consolation prize instead of the marquee event everyone wanted.
Ortiz Sr. claimed Ennis sat right at the top of the list in his son’s settlement agreement, while Thurman occupied the very bottom. That perspective reshapes how people view Vergil’s matchmaking, raising questions about whether promotional politics killed the premier matchup.
“I don’t know how much I can say legal-wise… but Vergil was offered a lot of money, a lot more money, and it could even be north of that,” Ortiz Sr. said in an interview with Stephen Gorder at K.O Artist Sports, responding to a question about a $16 million Ennis offer.
Ortiz Sr. pointed directly to a deliberate choice to shut the bout down, though he never named the specific person responsible. He guessed that financial motives got in the way because outside parties stood to miss out on the revenue.
The distinction is crucial. Ortiz Sr. insists the bout got blocked, yet his reasoning remains purely speculative. He also emphasized that he never handles Vergil’s actual contract negotiations.
Ortiz Sr. outlined the settlement ranking as Ennis first, followed by Sebastian Fundora, Tim Tszyu, Erislandy Lara, with Thurman bringing up the rear. Nobody produced the actual document during the interview to verify the claims.
If that order holds true, Thurman was simply the final name left on the board once preferred options fell through. It clarifies how the matchup came together, even if it does little to satisfy fans eager to see Ennis in the opposite corner.
Walking away from that level of cash puts real weight behind the father’s frustration. Vergil missed the chance at a massive purse against an elite rival. Now he steps into the middleweight division against a veteran who offers very little upside, even in victory.
Related Videos
Vergil Ortiz Jr. RETURNS to face off against Keith “ONE TIME” Thurman!
DAZN Boxing ·
Vergil Ortiz Jr is back & we can’t wait to see him return 🙌
DAZN Boxing ·
Netflix releases TYSON FURY on November 27, tracing the heavyweight’s rise through boxing and examining his personal struggles before he faces Anthony Joshua on December 11.
Lucy Wilcox directs the feature-length documentary. Fury, his wife Paris and father John give interviews alongside previously unseen footage from his life and career.
Tyson Fury’s Career and Family Life
The film follows Fury from childhood into the heavyweight ranks, revisiting the victories and setbacks that shaped his career. His family contributes its accounts of the experiences behind those performances.
Mental health, addiction and the loss of a child are among the subjects covered. The documentary also examines Fury’s views on masculinity, his family relationships and the support he has relied on throughout his career.
Paris and John bring their perspectives to a film that explores the personal pressures accompanying Fury’s success in the ring.
Fury vs Joshua: December 11 Date and Netflix Broadcast
Fury and Joshua step into opposite corners on Friday, December 11, 2026, at Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales. Netflix will broadcast their first professional meeting globally to all members at no additional cost.
The remaining bouts have yet to be announced.
At their September 30 press conference, Fury spoke about the years spent waiting to get Joshua into the ring.
“I’m looking forward to the challenge. It’s been 10 years in the making,” Fury said.
“The rise has been phenomenal from both fighters. We’ve both had our ups and downs. Finally, we arrive at this moment.”
Fury also praised his British rival: “He’s been a role model and a poster boy for British boxing for years.”
Joshua welcomed the occasion and said their exchanges would drive him through extra rounds in the gym.
“I feel fresh. I feel very excited about this opportunity to work again,” Joshua said.
Video shows police officer slamming spectator at UFC Edmonton
GFL announces new signings for December relaunch in Argentina
Vergil Ortiz Jr. Missed Out on $16M Fight Against Ennis, Claims Father
-
MMA2 days agoMorning Report | Chael Sonnen: Alexander Volkanovski double retirement fight pitch is ‘one of the dumbest ideas I’ve ever heard’
-
MMA2 days ago
Morning Report | Chael Sonnen: Alexander Volkanovski double retirement fight pitch is ‘one of the dumbest ideas I’ve ever heard’
-
Boxing2 days agoZuffa vs. Shakur Stevenson: A Deep Dive into Who Comes Out Worse
-
MMA2 days agoFloyd Mayweather open to Conor McGregor rematch: Lets do it
-
Boxing2 days agoAdam Azim Set to Battle Gabriel Gollaz Valenzuela on December 4
-
Boxing2 days agoRaven Chapman: Inspiring Journey of a Boxer Overcoming Brain Bleed and Embracing Recovery
-
MMA2 days ago
Morning Report | Chael Sonnen: Alexander Volkanovski double retirement fight pitch is ‘one of the dumbest ideas I’ve ever heard’
-
Boxing2 days agoTim Bradley: Why Shakur Stevenson and Gervonta Davis Will Dodge This Champion