Canelo Álvarez is a world champion again. He beat Christian Mbilli by unanimous decision on Saturday 31 October in Riyadh, 117-110, 116-111 and 115-112, to win back the WBC super middleweight title and hand Mbilli the first loss of his career. Jaime Munguia and Rafael Espinoza kept their titles on the undercard, and Carl Jammes Martin took a split decision from David Picasso. The pay-per-view card started at 2:00 PM ET (18:00 GMT, 20:00 Riga) and streamed on DAZN. Results, methods and times below are from The Ring’s official results for Canelo vs Mbilli. For the build-up, here’s our Canelo vs Mbilli preview, and the full card is on the event page.
Canelo vs Mbilli: a close first half, then Canelo’s fight
Mbilli came to press, and through the first five or six rounds he made it competitive. He got Canelo to the ropes, kept throwing and gave the judges something to think about. What he didn’t do was let his hands go the way he normally does. Canelo slipped a lot of it, dug in hooks to the body and kept catching him with counters on the way in.
From the sixth the fight belonged to Canelo. A right hand and a right uppercut landed clean, the uppercuts came again in the seventh, and from there he picked his moments, made Mbilli miss and boxed behind the jab. In the eighth, referee Hector Afu warned Mbilli for a low blow and then took a point from him for a right hand to the back of Canelo’s head. Mbilli did land a flush right in the 12th, but he didn’t follow it up, and it was Canelo who finished the stronger, with a right in the last seconds that made Mbilli stumble.
Canelo is now 64-3-2 (39 KOs) and Mbilli 29-1-1 (24 KOs). The judges were Guido Cavalleri, Jorge Gorini and Barry Lindenman. It was Canelo’s first fight since he lost the undisputed title to Terence Crawford in September 2025, and Mbilli’s first defence of the WBC belt he was elevated to after it became vacant.
What’s next for Canelo
Nothing is booked, and Canelo wasn’t in a hurry to name anyone. “I’m gonna rest. I’m gonna keep learning. I’m gonna keep working hard,” he said after the fight, according to the Associated Press.
Munguia survives a wild sixth round against Zon
Jaime Munguia made the first defence of his WBA super middleweight title a harder night than it was meant to be. Nikita Zon, a Russian southpaw, hurt him badly with a counter left uppercut in the sixth and had him in trouble on the ropes. Munguia got through it, hit back before the bell, and took over the second half with his body work. The cards read 117-111, 117-111 and 116-112.
Espinoza keeps the WBO featherweight title on a cut
Rafael Espinoza was in control from the first bell against late replacement Ricardo Blandón, and it ended at 1:22 of the third round. A straight right opened a cut over Blandon’s eye, the ringside doctor took a look, and referee Janny Guzman waved it off. Espinoza stays unbeaten at 29-0.
Martin upsets Picasso, Tsutsumi stops Rojas
Carl Jammes Martin of the Philippines took the WBC Silver featherweight title from David Picasso by split decision: 96-93 and 95-94 for Martin, 95-94 for Picasso on the third card. It was close all the way, and Martin’s work in the tenth looked like the difference. He’s now 29-0.
Reito Tsutsumi opened the pay-per-view card by dropping Raymundo Rojas twice in the second round, first with a straight left and again in a corner, and referee Andrei Cheveliov stopped it soon after. The Japanese junior lightweight is 6-0.
The prelims
Bek Nurmaganbet produced the knockout of the night. He dropped Marcos Vazquez with about a minute left in the first round, then put him down for good just before the bell, at 2:57. Emiliano Rojo stopped Flavius Biea at 1:38 of the fourth to stay unbeaten, and Sultan Almohammed won a wide decision over Erick Villegas (60-54, 59-55, 59-55). Brayan Leon opened the show by outpointing Hector Aguirre 78-74, 78-74, 77-75 over eight rounds.
Canelo vs Mbilli full results
Results, methods, rounds, times and scorecards as published by The Ring and cross-checked with other outlets. Pay-per-view card first, then the prelims.
WinnerWCanelo Álvarez
LoserLChristian Mbilli
WinnerWJaime Munguia
LoserLNikita Zon
WinnerWRafael Espinoza
LoserLRicardo Blandón
WinnerWReito Tsutsumi
LoserLRaymundo Rojas
WinnerWCarl Jammes Martin
LoserLDavid Picasso
WinnerWSultan Almohammed
LoserLErick Villegas
WinnerWBek Nurmaganbet
LoserLMarcos Vazquez
WinnerWEmiliano Rojo
LoserLFlavius Biea
WinnerWBrayan Leon
LoserLHector Aguirre
