Those who wrote Canelo Alvarez’s career off as over are sorely mistaken.
Alvarez put on a vintage performance against Christian Mbilli, taking a unanimous decision to reclaim the WBC super middleweight championship.
From the opening round, a theme was established: Mbilli tried to bring his forward pressure onto Alvarez, who had a counter and an answer for everything. Even in the first couple of rounds, when it seemed like Alvarez was focused on working with his jabs to counter and do body work, Mbilli struggled to bring pressure that had broken previous opponents.
Mbilli started to find success over the third and fourth rounds, getting Alvarez’s back to the ropes at times. But Alvarez continued to defend well, landing with accuracy when he landed and making Mbilli pay for some of his entries.
In fact, Alvarez’s counters became really effective by the halfway point of the fight. His counterpunching at times looked better than Mbilli’s offensive output, and he even stunned Mbilli in the seventh with an uppercut.
Alvarez’s offense then emerged more, starting to really take control and overwhelm Mbilli, who also lost a point in the eighth round for hitting the back of the head.
Mbilli tried to dictate the pace with his pressure again in the final four rounds, but Alvarez knew what was coming. He continued to work his jabs and counters to success, and he even wobbled Mbilli with a right hand in the closing seconds to seal the deal.
This was Alvarez’s first fight since losing his undisputed super middleweight title fight with Terence “Bud” Crawford in September 2025.
Alvarez previously reigned as WBC super middleweight champion as part of his run as undisputed champ of the 168-pound weight class. He earned the WBC portion of the crown by defeating Callum Smith in December 2020.
