Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez’s clash with Christian Mbilli has officially been confirmed for October 31 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The contest was originally scheduled to headline a September 12 card in the Kingdom, but was postponed after Alvarez had to deal with personal family matters that delayed the start of his training camp.
Ring Magazine’s Turki Alalshikh has now confirmed the Halloween date for the fight – which will be broadcast globally on DAZN pay-per-view – weeks after Canelo had revealed it.
Confirmation that the event remains in Riyadh puts an end to speculation that organisers might look to move the fight to Las Vegas.
Rising regional tensions in the Middle East had led some to question whether the promotion would pivot back to Alvarez’s traditional Las Vegas base, especially with the US State Department currently maintaining a Level 3 ‘Reconsider Travel’ advisory for Saudi Arabia.
Tickets have now been released on general sale following the confirmation, with one glaring omission: no undercard bouts have been officially confirmed.
Buyers securing tickets for the arena are currently doing so with only the 12-round main event formally attached to the billing, with the rest of the Mexican fighters – the card is billed Mexico vs the World – only mentioned in reports and rumours so far.
The stakes at the top of the card remain clear. Mbilli enters as the full WBC super-middleweight champion, having been elevated following Terence Crawford’s retirement from boxing. For Canelo, the bout represents an immediate chance to reclaim world championship status at 168 pounds after dropping his undisputed crown late last year to the American.
The Mexican icon has shown extreme confidence ahead of this comeback, maintaining that even if he has aged and slowed down, Mbilli does not and will never have the tools to beat him.
