Canelo Alvarez vs. Christian Mbilli

Canelo Alvarez vs. Christian Mbilli for the WBC super middleweight title takes place on Saturday, October 31, 2026, at The Venue in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, as part of Riyadh Season — Sunday, November 1 in Japan. The card streams on DAZN, with the main event on pay-per-view (checked 2026-10-14).

The full card: 10 bouts, four world titles

The undercard was announced October 8–10, starting with a Ring Magazine post on X on October 8. Three more world-title fights join the main event:

• WBC super middleweight: Saul "Canelo" Alvarez vs. Christian Mbilli (main event)
• WBA super middleweight: Jaime Munguia vs. Nikita Zon
• WBO featherweight: Rafael Espinoza vs. Lorenzo Parra
• Vacant IBF super lightweight: Lindolfo Delgado vs. Arthur Biyarslanov
• Super bantamweight: David Picasso vs. Carl Jammes Martin
• Super featherweight: Reito Tsutsumi vs. Raymundo Rojas
• Super featherweight: Sultan Almohammed vs. Erick Villegas
• Super middleweight: Bek Nurmaganbet vs. Marcos Vazquez Rodriguez
• Middleweight: Carlos Emiliano vs. Flavius Biea
• Super middleweight: Bryan Leon vs. Hector Aguirre

This is the order in which the bouts were announced, not the running order on the night. For the weight limits behind each division, see our boxing weight classes chart.

Start time and how to watch

DAZN carries the card live, and the main event is a pay-per-view. DAZN Japan's schedule lists the broadcast from 1:00 a.m. JST on November 1 (7 p.m. Riyadh time on October 31) — that is when the stream opens, not when Canelo and Mbilli walk to the ring.

DAZN had not published a main-event or ring-walk time as of October 14. On the promoter's side, Saudi GEA chairman Turki Alalshikh, promoting the ticket sale on X, wrote that the "main fight starts at 3 AM" (quoted by Boxing Insider on September 29). He gave no time zone; Boxing Insider read it as local time, which would mean 3 a.m. in Riyadh on November 1 — 9 a.m. in Japan. We will update this page when an official running order is published.

PPV prices vary by country, so check DAZN in your region before buying.

Tickets for the arena are sold on webook.com, Riyadh Season's official ticketing platform.

Japan's interest: Reito Tsutsumi

Japan's Reito Tsutsumi is on the undercard, facing Raymundo Rojas at super featherweight.

How we got here

The fight was first planned for September. In July 2026 Canelo said "some problems in my family" needed to be resolved before he could start a training camp, and the date moved to October 31.

In early October, missile attacks on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh raised doubts about whether the card would go ahead. On October 11, Alalshikh wrote on X: "Canelo reached out and told me he'll still fight in Riyadh this October, no matter what happens." A reported fallback, T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on November 21, floated by outlets in Mexico and France, had not been confirmed by Riyadh Season, DAZN or either camp as of October 14.

Mbilli is unbeaten at 29-0-1 with 24 knockouts. He won the interim WBC super-middleweight title with a first-round TKO of Maciej Sulecki, retained it via a split draw against Lester Martinez, and was elevated to full champion on January 27, 2026 after Terence Crawford vacated the belt. For Canelo, this is his first fight since a unanimous-decision loss to Crawford in September 2025 cost him the undisputed championship. The event is billed as "Mexico vs. the World."

Date, venue and card cross-checked between DAZN's undercard announcement (Oct. 10) and reporting by Arab News and Sports Illustrated (Oct. 9); the status of the date reflects Boxing Insider and Sports Illustrated reporting on Oct. 11, checked 2026-10-14. This page will switch to results after the fight.