Saul “Canelo” Alvarez is expected to make his healthy return against super middleweight titleholder Christian Mbilli in September in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Ring Magazine announced on Thursday.
Alvarez, 63-3-2 (39 KOs), has been out of the ring since his unanimous decision loss to Terence Crawford this past September, when Crawford won convincingly and took over Alvarez’s 168lbs undisputed championship.
After the fight, Alvarez, 35, required surgery on his left elbow to remove loose bodies. Having resumed training, he presumably will be ready to challenge Mbilli, who controls the WBC super middleweight belt, in the fall.
Mbilli, 29-0-1 (24 KOs), a Cameroon native and French national now fighting out of Montreal, most recently fought to a split draw against Lester Martinez last September on the Alvarez-Crawford undercard.
No official date was released as part of the Ring Magazine announcement, but Alvarez traditionally fights on Mexican Independence Day weekend and had previously been targeting a Sept. 12 return to coincide with that date in 2026.
Jason Langendorf is the former Boxing Editor of ESPN.com, was a contributor to Ringside Seat and the Queensberry Rules, and has written about boxing for Vice, The Guardian, Sun-Times and other publications. A member of the Boxing Writers Association of America, he can be found at LinkedIn and followed on X and Bluesky.
