TRENDING WNBA Finals: Game 6 live updates TNF preview: Panthers vs. Packers Brewers win World Series Celebrate, Milwaukee! Dybantsa delivers in debut Story by Story by Christian Mbilli isn't trying to 'outbox' Canelo Alvarez. He's out 'to break' Canelo Lewis Watson Uncrowned Thu, October 29, 2026 at 12:00 PM UTC · 6 min read About Our Ads Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Christian Mbilli speaks with the confidence of a man who believes the sands of time are shifting beneath boxing's feet.
There was a time, not so long ago, when fighting Saul "Canelo" Alvarez was a prize in and of itself. A winning lottery ticket before the numbers had even been drawn. An occasion where your hand had already been raised, stuffed with dollar bills, before the opening bell had even sounded.
But Mbilli (29-0-1, 24 KOs) heads to Riyadh's Kingdom Arena in Saudi Arabia as the only unbeaten fighter in Saturday's main event.
At 31, Mbilli is entering the prime years of his career and, increasingly, looks like one of the key players in a super middleweight division that no longer revolves quite so completely around Canelo
That is the shift Mbilli believes he can accelerate.
Canelo (63-3-2, 39 KOs) is still the prize. But for Mbilli, this is no longer simply about beating the man at the top. It is about becoming the man everyone else wants to beat.
"I'm good," Mbilli told Uncrowned, smiling. The Cameroon-born Frenchman, residing in Montreal since 2017, answers bluntly to a question positing what attribute he would most like to take from Alvarez.
His answer is sharp and direct. Not the Mexican's money, longevity, popularity, résumé, nor his technical ability. He doubles down: "No, no, honestly I am good. The only thing I will take from him is his crown."
Christian Mbilli enters Saturday's fight as the WBC super middleweight champion.
The curious point is that the crown, in theory, already belongs to Mbilli. He was elevated to full champion at 168 pounds by the WBC in January this year, but still sits on the right-hand side of the fight poster as the B-side in this super middleweight title fight.
The "crown" he is referring to is the one that many still believe Alvarez to be the keeper of: The mythical "face of boxing." Does he believe that title is also on the line in Riyadh?
"When I beat Canelo … I hope so," Mbilli continues, laughing. "But [becoming the face of boxing] would make sense, wouldn't it?
"It's like the oldest saying in boxing, that 'to be the man, you have to beat the man.' Plus, with [Terence] Crawford retiring, even if I'm the one that got the belt, Canelo still has the name. … And, I'd also add that, if there's still doubt after I beat him, I'd be willing to give him a rematch so everyone knows I'm the face of the sport now."
Mbilli isn't stupid. He has been around the sport long enough to realize that there is way more to becoming the "face of boxing" than a solitary win over a fading legend.
Much like the pound-for-pound ranking debates , one size doesn't fit all, and more often than not conclusions are reached using a plethora of mixed ingredients. But this goal of Mbilli's more so underlines how high he believes his ceiling is in the sport.
Canelo is returning to the ring for the first time in 13 months, not seen since losing a unanimous decision to Terence Crawford for the undisputed titles at 168 pounds last September.
Canelo Alvarez (L) has not fought since losing to Terence Crawford on Sept. 13, 2025.
The Mexican looked frustrated and short of ideas through large periods of the historic Netflix-produced fight inside Las Vegas' Allegiant Stadium.
"I think it's very visible that [Alvarez] has lost a step," Mbilli adds. "And I'm saying that very respectfully, because he's still a great fighter. But the body of work speaks for itself.
"Let's say five years ago — he was stopping everybody, and since then the guy goes to the distance a lot. Maybe it's the power, the timing or visibly just the punching output, but the guy is doing this since he's 15 years old, and no one, including the best of the best, is getting better by getting punched in the face for that long."
Mbilli was ringside that evening in Vegas, getting a close up view of his next opponent. Earlier in the night, Mbilli battled to a split decision draw against Lester Martinez over 10 rounds — a bout that was awarded Fight of the Night by Dana White and Zuffa Boxing.
But what did he learn sitting just meters away from Alvarez? And how will his approach differ to Crawford's winning effort?
"Nothing came to my mind on that night specifically. I don't have to explain to anybody that Crawford and I are very different," he says. "And even though I respect everything he accomplished, I didn't really say to myself, 'Oh, I can beat Canelo like he did,' because for me, the plan was always to never to outbox Canelo, it's to break Canelo. So, the result might be the same, but I'd say the process will be a lot different.
"For me, it's fire for fire. And that's also why I've said many times that I wasn't [Jaime] Munguia, [Edgar] Berlanga or even [Jermell] Charlo, because when they got hurt, they got on their bike and they were just happy to survive for the rest of the fight.
"I'm not built like that. I fought through the fire before, my life and career speak for it, and when the temperature gets high I never shy from the heat."
There is something refreshing about Mbilli's refusal to treat Alvarez as an untouchable figure.
For years, challengers arrive at this level already beaten by the occasion, talking up the experience of sharing the ring with a superstar rather than the possibility of taking his place.
He sees a fighter whose reputation remains enormous, but whose performances have begun to leave the door ajar . And he has no intention of politely waiting for an invitation to walk through it.
If it's entertainment you want, then Mbilli is promising it in defense as well as attack.
"I do get hit, but I have never been dropped — and by the time you hit me, I will probably have hit you a lot more already," he says.
"Canelo has been outboxed, most recently by Crawford, but I think he hasn't been in a firefight for quite some time now. So, everyone with an opinion about my style should tune in, because I can guarantee you this one will be a firefight."
Mbilli believes there is a big difference in knowing what to expect and being able to do something about it. He closes by insisting that familiarity will count for very little inside the Riyadh ring.
"[Canelo] will always have more experience than everybody on this stage, but at the end of the day we're the only two in that ring, and he has as much experience fighting Christian Mbilli than I have fighting Canelo Alvarez."
Tearing up the Canelo blueprint is a tall task — one that only Crawford, Floyd Mayweather and Dmitry Bivol have officially accomplished. But if the plan really is to break Canelo, rather than simply beat him, boxing could be in for one hell of a fight.
Source: Sports
