Canelo Alvarez marshalled Christian Mbilli as he reclaimed the WBC super-middleweight world championship he used to hold. The Mexican superstar won the title beating Mbilli by unanimous decision in Riyadh. Canelo was returning to boxing a year after his stunning loss to Terence Crawford and went straight in with a strong, previously undefeated world champion.
Mbilli did press Alvarez in the first half of the fight. He threw in busy bursts and moved Canelo into the ropes. But Canelo began to exert increasing control of the action from the sixth round onwards.
With brilliant skill he used a right uppercut to open a path for a hard right cross. He grew more comfortable on the ropes, working with counter-punches, and his vicious uppercut made Mbilli wary. In the eighth round Canelo finished a four-punch combination with a right to the head.
Mbilli drove forward and all of a sudden the referee took a point off the champion for hitting round the back of the head. Mbilli urgently needed to shift momentum. Instead Canelo turned the screw.
Alvarez came off the ropes to work from the centre of the ring, drilling Mbilli with his right hook. In the final round Mbilli struck in a good shot but backed off. Canelo even waved him in again, but Mbilli wouldn't respond.
Canelo pressed forward, and Mbilli smacked him with a hard right. Canelo wanted to finish fighting and blasted home an excellent right. He made sure of a unanimous decision, taking the win 115-112, 116-111 and 117-110 on the cards.
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