Canelo Alvarez to face Christian Mbilli for WBC belt in Sept.

• Andreas HaleApr 30, 2026, 04:49 PM ET

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  Andreas Hale is a combat sports reporter at ESPN. Andreas covers MMA, boxing and pro wrestling. In Andreas’ free time, he plays video games, obsesses over music and is a White Sox and 49ers fan. He is also a host for Sirius XM’s Fight Nation. Before joining ESPN, Andreas was a senior writer at DAZN and Sporting News. He started his career as a music journalist for outlets including HipHopDX, The Grammys and Jay-Z’s Life+Times. He is also an NAACP Image Award-nominated filmmaker as a producer for the animated short film “Bridges” in 2024.

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Canelo Alvarez will make his highly anticipated return to the ring and challenge Christian Mbilli for the WBC super middleweight title in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in September, The Ring announced Thursday.

Alvarez (63-3-2, 39 KOs) hasn’t fought since losing the undisputed super middleweight championship to Terence Crawford in September. Following that loss, he underwent elbow surgery.

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Now healed, Alvarez will look to reclaim one of the titles that he lost last year.

Mbilli (29-0-1, 24 KOs) last fought Lester Martinez to a split draw on the undercard of Alvaraez -Crawford. Mbilli, who came into that fight as the interim WBC super middleweight champion, was elevated to full champion after Crawford retired in December. The powerful French Cameroonian has been impressive with wins over Maciej Sulecki and Sergiy Derevyanchenko.

Alvarez’s return had been penciled in for Sept. 12, but no date has been officially announced for the fight.