Mbilli Defends WBC Title Against Alvarez Saturday

Christian Mbilli defends his WBC super middleweight title Saturday against Saul Alvarez, the most decorated opponent of his career. Mbilli is 29-0 as a professional, and oddsmakers list him at +250.

Mbilli's path to the full title ran through Alvarez's September 2025 bout, where Terence Crawford handed Alvarez a loss. Crawford retired after that fight, and Mbilli moved from interim champion to full titleholder. He won the interim belt in June 2025 with a first-round stoppage of Maciej Sulecki, then fought Lester Martinez to a split draw in his next outing.

Mbilli has stopped 24 of his 29 opponents. He works behind a jab, drives fighters to the ropes, and lands right hands upstairs with lefts to the body. He finished Mark Heffron with a body shot in 40 seconds. Over his last five fights he has averaged 78 punches per round, 58 of them power shots, double the super middleweight average. Against Martinez that pace faded over 10 rounds after he built an early lead. Sergiy Derevyanchenko, fighting with one arm after an early injury, landed counters in the middle and late rounds.

Alvarez has not recorded a stoppage in eight fights. Crawford told DAZN that styles favor Alvarez in this matchup. "Styles make fights, and Mbilli's style is tailor-made for Canelo," Crawford said. He added that he does not see Mbilli winning on the scorecards, but said Mbilli's best path is "letting his hands go, roughing Canelo up, and making it a dogfight."

Mbilli is the larger fighter and prefers to press forward, while Alvarez throws at a lower volume. The scheduled contest is Saturday.

Mbilli holds a 29-0 record with 24 knockouts and enters as a +250 underdog against Alvarez, who has not scored a stoppage in eight bouts.