Saudi Arabia has not advised there will be Canelo Alvarez-Christian Mbilli VADA testing

With nearly a month to go before Canelo Alvarez’s return to the ring to fight new WBC super-middleweight champion Christian Mbilli, the Saudi Arabia-based fight promoter Sela has not funded the expected Olympic-style drug testing program for the bout.

An official familiar with the situation told BoxingScene that the Nevada-based Voluntary Anti Doping Association has not received payment to test either the four-division champion Alvarez, 63-3-2 (39 KOs), or Canada’s Mbilli, 29-0-1 (24 KOs), before their planned October 31 bout in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

“That’s a Sela question,” Alvarez advisor Richard Schaefer told BoxingScene Monday. “Canelo’s ready, willing and able to test … and my understanding is Sela’s in touch with [VADA].”

Yet, later Monday, an official familiar with the situation repeated that VADA has “not been contacted for this bout as yet.”

While the WBC requires champions and top-15 contenders to be enrolled in its Clean Boxing Program, subjecting athletes to random testing and whereabouts details, title-fight testing increases the scrutiny to help ensure a fair bout.

Alvarez was suspended in 2018 after testing positive for the banned stimulant Clenbuterol, delaying the rematch he won that year versus Gennady Golovkin. He claimed the substance was ingested through tainted beef in Mexico, and has since steadily committed to VADA testing.

Mbilli has never tested positive for performance-enhancing substances.

“Everybody is going to be drug-tested, Canelo is training hard and the fight is going to happen,” Schaefer said. “Everything is fine. It’s going to be an unbelievable fight.”

Schaefer said Alvarez, currently training in Spain with his longtime cornerman Eddy Reynoso and former undisputed heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk, has provided whereabouts forms to VADA, and he noted Mbilli is registered in the Clean Boxing Program.

Yet, anti-doping experts have detailed previously that thorough VADA testing can begin from several months to six weeks before a high-profile bout, so that window has closed.

The fight can still proceed, but may wind up featuring an unknown volume of testing by the Saudi  Arabia commission.

There have been industry whispers and speculation that the U.S.-Iran war could force the bout to be moved from the Middle East to the U.S. following Iranian drone attacks in Saudi Arabia. 

Schaefer dismissed such concerns, noting that the drone attacks were “not [targeted] in Riyadh.”

However, Sela and Saudi Arabia boxing financier Turki Alalshikh have not formally announced the card, and officials have told BoxingScene that at least two title fighters planned for the card, featherweight champion Rafael Espinoza and 140lbs contender Lindolfo Delgado, have not yet been presented contracts for their proposed bouts.