{"id":819549,"date":"2026-10-31T08:12:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-31T08:12:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/819549\/"},"modified":"2026-10-31T08:12:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T08:12:12","slug":"boxings-most-avoided-fighter-targets-canelo-vs-mbilli-winner-i-want-to-unify-the-titles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/819549\/","title":{"rendered":"Boxing&#8217;s &#8216;most avoided fighter&#8217; targets Canelo vs Mbilli winner: &#8220;I want to unify the titles&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/boxingnewsonline.net\/boxer\/canelo\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Canelo Alvarez<\/a> seeks to return to the super-middleweight throne as he bids for Christian Mbilli\u2019s WBC 168lb crown on Saturday, and one former world champion has revealed his plan to take on the victor.<\/p>\n<p>Canelo is undeniably amongst the greats of the super-middleweight scene having been the division\u2019s first undisputed world champion, but the four-weight conqueror is now seeking to prove that he is still the man to beat at his optimal weight, by claiming the WBC strap.<\/p>\n<p>Mbilli was upgraded to full world champion following Terence Crawford\u2019s decision to retire from the sport, but the French-Cameroonian is yet to defend the belt, having patiently waited for this lucrative clash with Canelo.<\/p>\n<p>Should he be successful in defending the title, Mbilli has outlined his goals to capture the undisputed throne for himself, <a href=\"https:\/\/boxingnewsonline.net\/features\/mbilli-on-canelo-fight-and-rematch\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">eyeing up a potential in-house matchup for all four titles against fellow Eye of the Tiger fighter, Osleys Iglesias<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>On <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/qazaqstyle\/status\/2115888359914819864?a=4rLVdQSpX2SitBMxzik&amp;s=20\" rel=\"nofollow\">X<\/a>, former unified middleweight champion Janibek Alimkhanuly offered a possible unification opportunity to the winner of Canelo-Mbilli, should he claim the vacant WBO super-middleweight title in January.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">In January, I will hold the championship title in the super middleweight division.<\/p>\n<p>In May, I want to fight the winner of this fight and unify the title. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/X0HnrnFQXs\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/X0HnrnFQXs<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Janibek Alimkhanuly (@qazaqstyle) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/qazaqstyle\/status\/2115888359914819864?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow\">October 29, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn January, I will hold the championship title in the super-middleweight division.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn May, I want to fight the winner of this [Canelo-Mbilli] fight and unify the title.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Kazakhstan\u2019s Alimkhanuly will head to Denmark to take on Jacob Bank for the vacant belt on January 23 having not competed since back in April 2025.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/boxing\/story\/_\/id\/48174710\/janibek-alimkhanuly-loses-middleweight-title-violations\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">A failed drugs test led to him no longer holding his unified world middleweight titles<\/a>, but he has now made the move to 168lbs after becoming eligible to resume his career.<\/p>\n<p>Janibek has long branded himself as the sport\u2019s most avoided fighter, and his case was strengthened recently when Hamzah Sheeraz decided to vacate the WBO belt rather than face him as mandatory challenger. The Brit, however, said he made the decision due to corruption and the Kazakh\u2019s failed test.<\/p>\n<p>                                            <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Canelo Alvarez seeks to return to the super-middleweight throne as he bids for Christian Mbilli\u2019s WBC 168lb crown&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":819550,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-819549","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819549","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=819549"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819549\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/819550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=819549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=819549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=819549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}