On Saturday, Saul "Canelo" Alvarez will enter the ring in the rare position of world title challenger. Alvarez will face WBC super middleweight champion Christian Mbilli in Saudi Arabia in Alvarez's first fight since September 2025.

In Alvarez's previous fight, he suffered the most humbling defeat of his professional career, dropping a clear decision to Terence Crawford. Crawford was the much better fighter that night, using his world-class skills to beat Alvarez to the punch and constantly disrupt his rhythm.

Unlike Alvarez's prior losses, he was not the far more inexperienced fighter facing a hall of famer (like against Floyd Mayweather Jr.) or the smaller man coming up in weight against a pound-for-pound elite (as was the case against Dmitry Bivol). Alvarez was younger than Crawford with a history of huge fights and Crawford was moving up multiple weight classes for the mega-payday of facing Canelo.

What happened against Crawford seemed to validate all the doubts that had built up over the years. Alvarez has a ton of in-ring miles on his body at 36 and has seemed to have lost a few steps in recent years. Plus, Alvarez has not scored a stoppage since 2021. Time seemed to be catching up to Alvarez, and against a fighter as skilled as Crawford, there was no escape for the then-undisputed champion.

Why the time is now for Canelo Alvarez to prove that he still has it on the elite, championship level

Brian Campbell

"When you lose, you always look back at your mistakes, and at this level, there's very little between a win and a loss," Alvarez said during the final week of his training camp in Spain. "I did a good job of preparing for the [Crawford] fight, but throughout fight week, my mind wasn't there. I always say, I don't want to look back on things. Now, I'm going to learn from that [fight] and look towards Mbilli. I think his style is perfect for me to go against and will make for a great fight."

Those doubts, and the question of how much Alvarez has left in the tank, lead us to Saturday and Mbilli, who was promoted from interim to full champion when Crawford retired following his win over Alvarez.

Mbilli is a hard-charging fighter who has yet to taste defeat in his professional career, putting up a 29-0-1 pro record with 24 knockouts.

Mbilli won the WBC interim belt with a first-round knockout of Maciej Sulecki, the second first-round knockout in a three-fight span for Mbilli. His first defense of the interim belt came against Lester Martínez on the undercard of Alvarez's fight with Crawford.

Against Martinez, Mbilli was on his usual game early, coming forward, throwing big right hands and working the body, but he fatigued down the stretch, which has been a recurring problem for the muscular Mbilli. The result of the fight was a very competitive draw that could have realistically gone either direction.

Mbilli vs. Alvarez fight card, odds

• Saul "Canelo" Alvarez -330 vs. Christian Mbilli (c) +250, WBC super middleweight title
• Jaime Munguia -1800 vs. Nikita Zon +850, super middleweights
• Rafael Espinoza (c) -3000 vs. Ricardo Blandon +1100, WBO featherweight title
• David Picasso -700 vs. Carl Jammes Martin +450, featherweights
• Reito Tsutsumi vs. Raymundo Rojas Garcia, junior lightweights

Prediction

Were you to design a fighter in a lab who is most tailor-made for peak Alvarez, he'd look a lot like Mbilli. Mbilli doesn't have a deep bag of tricks, he comes forward and he throws big combinations with good body work. Mbilli doesn't have solid defense, and he has shown a tendency to fade as fights wear on. Add to those problems that Mbilli has only been scheduled for a 12-round fight once (his first-round knockout win over Sulecki), and you can see the areas that Alvarez has clear advantages.

The biggest question for the fight is what Alvarez has left in the tank. He has spent more than two decades fighting at a professional level. There are no mountains really left to be conquered for Alvarez, and he has shown that, even if still great, he is well past his prime as a fighter.

But has Alvarez faded enough that a simple pressure fighter -- even a good one -- able to break him down and collect a win?

It seems unlikely that Alvarez can't lean on his skills, defense and boxing IQ to roll through Mbilli on the scorecards. Mbilli leaves too many defensive openings and doesn't have the game to disrupt Alvarez the way Crawford did repeatedly. Alvarez should leave the ring as world champion once again. Pick: Saul "Canelo" Alvarez via UD