In an active war zone, Canelo Alvarez became a champion again when he prevailed over Christian Mbilli in a boxing ring Saturday, Oct. 31.

Alvarez won the bout in a unanimous decision and captured the WBC super middleweight title more than a year after losing the undisputed super middleweight championship after a loss to Terence Crawford.

The judges scored it 115-112, 116-111, 117-110 in favor of Alvarez.

The fight between Alvarez and Mbilli took place in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia and target of drone and missile strikes fired by Iran-backed Houthis in neighboring Yemen. An attack on the city’s international airport Oct. 10 left 13 dead and more than 300 injured.

But Saudi Arabia leaders and boxing officials pushed forward with event billed as “Mexico vs. The World." Canelo, the 36-year-old Mexican star, did his part. He used his jab with expertise and threw hard enough to make Mbill think twice before rushing in to attack.

In fact, the strategic expectations for the fight never truly materialized.  Mbilli, the 31-year-old from Cameroon who was the reigning WBC super middleweight champion, was expected to use his aggression and punching volume against the more disciplined Alvarez. McBilli often looked timid against Alvarez rather than hellbent on punching the legend.

But on Saturday in Kingdom Arena, Canelo looked in almost total control. Mbilli landed some hard shots, but the hardest came in the final round. Alvarez also showed impressive accuracy.

With his performance, Alvarez answered questions about his condition and skills that looked deteriorated when he lost to Crawford by unanimous decision on Sept. 13, 2025.

Alvarez improved to 64-3-2, and Mbilli dropped to 29-1-1.