Canelo wins Mbilli's WBC belt as promoter alleges referee bias
Camille Estephan says Canelo Alvarez could have "influenced" the referee into docking Christian Mbilli a point as the Mexican took the WBC super-middleweight title in Riyadh.
Canelo Alvarez returned from his defeat to Terence Crawford by outpointing Christian Mbilli in Riyadh, leaving the Kingdom Arena with the WBC super-middleweight world title that Mbilli had carried into the ring.
The result has been clouded by an allegation from Mbilli's promoter, Camille Estephan, who said Alvarez could have "influenced" the referee during the bout to have a point deducted from his fighter, according to Sky Sports Boxing.
Mbilli had arrived in the Saudi capital with a name built on relentless, high-volume pressure, forged through a 2024 win over Sergey Derevyanchenko and a 2025 draw with Lester Martinez, Yahoo Sports reported.
That identity barely surfaced against Alvarez. Compubox figures cited by Yahoo Sports showed Mbilli landing an average of just 10.6 punches per round, well down on the 21.5 he managed against Derevyanchenko and the 27.3 against Martinez.
His accuracy fell just as sharply, to 17.5 per cent, compared with 30.9 per cent against Derevyanchenko and 34.7 per cent against Martinez.
Mbilli actually threw more jabs per round at Alvarez, 29.3 against the 25 he managed versus Derevyanchenko, but his power-punch output dropped to 31.1 per round from 44.6, a pattern Yahoo Sports said reflected a fighter unable to generate any sustained offence.
He did try to pick up the pace as the fight wore on, increasing his output from 57.2 punches per round across the first six rounds to 63.5 in the second half. The extra effort brought little reward: Mbilli threw 38 more punches in the closing six rounds but landed only one more than he had managed earlier in the fight.
Alvarez, 36, was credited by Yahoo Sports with dictating the tempo throughout, using his jab, positioning and counterpunching to keep Mbilli hesitant rather than allow him to force the fast, high-output fight he prefers.
Elsewhere on the same Riyadh card, Jaime Munguia, who like Alvarez is trained by Eddy Reynoso, retained his WBA super-middleweight title on the scorecards against Nikita Zon. Munguia was rocked in the sixth round by Zon before recovering to see out the championship rounds, a contest Yahoo Sports described as untidy but engrossing.
Alvarez's win puts him back in possession of a version of the super-middleweight crown following his first defeat in years to Crawford, while Estephan's claim about the officiating leaves a disputed question mark hanging over the manner of Mbilli's loss.