Canelo Alvarez's return fight delayed until October

For the first time in five years, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez won’t be fighting around one of the biggest boxing weekends of the calendar.

Alvarez’s return bout against WBC super middleweight champion Christian Mbili — originally scheduled for Sept. 12 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia — has been postponed until late October. Alvarez’s promoter, Turki Alalshikh, announced the news via his Ring Magazine on Saturday.

Alvarez has traditionally owed the month of September for boxing, with many of his biggest events taking place around Mexican Independence Day weekend.

One of the biggest examples of that came last year, when Alvarez (63-3-2, 39 KOs) and Terence Crawford battled for the undisputed super middleweight championship in a blockbuster Netflix bout on Sept. 13, 2025. Crawford ultimately upset Alvarez via unanimous decision, breaking Alvarez’s six-fight win streak and sending him toppling out of Uncrowned’s pound-for-pound rankings. Crawford retired shortly thereafter, vacating his WBA, WBC, WBO and IBF super middleweight belts.

A former four-division champion, Alvarez, 35, has remained sidelined since that loss but nonetheless remains one of the biggest stars in world boxing.

Mbili (29-0-1, 24 KOs) captured the interim WBC title in June 2025 with a first-round knockout of Maciej Sulęcki, then was upgraded to full champion following Crawford’s retirement. Mbili most recently fought to a split draw with Lester Martínez on the Crawford vs. Alvarez undercard.