RIYADH \u2013 Twenty-one years, hundreds of millions of dollars and a place among boxing\u2019s all-time greats have done nothing to dim Saul \u201cCanelo\u201d Alvarez\u2019s hunger.<\/p>\n
For all the riches and glory, the Mexican still finds his greatest joy within the unforgiving confines of a 25-square-meter ring, where he reclaimed the world title on Saturday with a unanimous points win over Christian Mbilli.<\/p>\n
The bout went ahead in Riyadh after a week in which the Saudi-led coalition said it intercepted Iran-aligned Houthi missiles and drones aimed at the capital. Security concerns led to the cancellation or postponement of several Saudi events, including the Six Kings Slam tennis exhibition.<\/p>\n
The 36-year-old Alvarez, returning to the ring for the first time in more than a year, relied on his trademark counter-punching and precise body shots to overcome the French champion and re-establish himself among boxing\u2019s elite.<\/p>\n
The judges scored the fight 115-112, 116-111 and 117-110.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s something unbelievable,\u201d Alvarez said.\u00a0\u201cIt feels like my first title. Now, after 21 years as a professional, 16 years ago I won my first title. Now I won that title again. I\u2019m so proud of my team.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love boxing. That\u2019s why I\u2019m here, because I still love boxing and I enjoy it a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mbilli, who entered the contest with a record of 29 wins and one draw, looked to unsettle the Mexican with his relentless pressure and higher punch volume, but Alvarez landed the cleaner blows, including a sharp uppercut that made his opponent stagger in the seventh round.<\/p>\n
The victory marked a significant comeback for Alvarez, who suffered only the third defeat of his professional career when American Terence Crawford outpointed him by unanimous decision in September 2025.<\/p>\n
That loss cost Alvarez his undisputed super-middleweight crown, ending his reign as holder of the division\u2019s four major titles.<\/p>\n
Mbilli, 31, had been elevated to full WBC champion after Crawford\u2019s departure from the division, having previously held the interim title.<\/p>\n
The Cameroon-born boxer had fought to a split draw against Lester Martinez on the undercard of the Alvarez-Crawford showdown, ending a run of 29 consecutive professional victories.<\/p>\n
Saturday\u2019s result improved Alvarez\u2019s record to 64 wins, three defeats and two draws and handed Mbilli the first loss of his professional career.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"RIYADH \u2013 Twenty-one years, hundreds of millions of dollars and a place among boxing\u2019s all-time greats have done…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":953841,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[703,49,48,5051,80416,13341,82],"class_list":["post-953840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canelo-alvarez","tag-christian-mbilli","tag-saudi-arabia","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/953840","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=953840"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/953840\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/953841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=953840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=953840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=953840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}