Canelo Alvarez has taken a fair bit of time away from the sport following his defeat to Terence Crawford at this point.
Terence Crawford schooled him on points last time in the boxing ring in their super-middleweight bout last September.
He is coming back this October after a full year away from boxing against a very little known opponent to those outside of boxing.
Some points on this to note:
- Has stated he has “maybe 3 or 4 fights left” in his career, signaling the end is near.
- Admitted his mind “wasn’t there” during the loss to Terence Crawford, citing mental focus issues.
- Lost his undisputed super middleweight titles to Crawford in September 2025 via unanimous decision.
- His comeback fight is against Christian Mbilli on October 31, 2026, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
- The fight was originally scheduled for September 12 but was postponed due to “family problems.”
- He required elbow surgery in October 2025 and skipped his traditional May fight date to recover.
- He turns 36 this month and has hinted at focusing on goals outside boxing after retirement.
- Mbilli is undefeated (29-0-1, 24 KOs) and is viewed by some as a dangerous, not easy, opponent.
- On promoter has even backed Mbilli to knock Canelo out, which would be his first stoppage loss.
- Canelo has acknowledged money is no longer his main motivation, fueling retirement talk.
Some leading boxing trainers have even said they think Canelo is done at this point.
For now though, Canelo Alvarez still remains a huge name in boxing and one of the biggest draws in the entire sport.
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