Canelo Alvarez got back in the win column on Saturday afternoon in Saudi Arabia, defeating Christian Mbilli via unanimous decision with 115-112, 116-111 and 117-110 scores (highlights here). It was a solid performance, but not enough to erase some of the questions raised by his defeat at the hands of Terence Crawford last September.
Following his defeat of Mbilli, Canelo called for a rematch with Crawford. “Bud” put out a polite “Congrats” tweet following Alvarez’s win but did not respond to the Mexican’s callout, and all signs point to the 39-year-old being happily retired.
Another name that Canelo had spoken of leading up to the Mbilli fight is Dmitry Bivol, who beat him back in 2022. Bivol is scheduled to fight WBO mandatory challenger Callum Smith in Russia on December 12th. A rematch with Canelo would be massive money, yet Bivol didn’t bother to respond to the Mexican fighter’s challenge.
One person that remains thirsty for a Canelo fight? Jake Paul, who is expected to return from a jaw-breaking defeat against Anthony Joshua on Christmas Eve against an opponent TBD.
“Out of the ring for 13 months but still the same old Canelo,” Paul wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “Respect. Did take a lot of punches though. We will dance my friend, we will dance.”
Paul and Canelo almost ended up fighting in May 2025 before Saudi boxing power broker Turki Alalshikh stepped in and signed Alvarez to a big money multi-fight deal, scuttling the whole affair. But now Paul is looking like he’s back in the good graces of Saudi Arabia after agreeing to fight in the Kingdom despite an ongoing war with Yemen and Iran leading to regular bombings.
Having Canelo fight Paul at this point seems silly, but if he can’t get Crawford or Bivol into the ring soon, perhaps it’s a decent placeholder for the Saudis, who might see the fight as a rare opportunity to actually make money off their boxing endeavors.
