Canelo Alvarez has sat through the footage of his loss to Terence Crawford five separate times, and every viewing apparently ended the same way, with him wanting another shot. Alvarez told MiddleEasy that he’s reviewed the fight five times and wants a rematch. He said it while he’s in the middle of preparing for a very different problem, a challenge of WBC super middleweight champion Christian Mbilli.
Five times is a lot of tape. That’s more rewatches than most of us gave the final season of a show we swore we’d never forgive. A guy who goes back to the scene of the crime that often either found something he thinks he can fix, or he can’t stop picking at the scab. Knowing Canelo, it’s probably both.
The Mbilli problem comes first
Before anybody books a Crawford sequel, Alvarez has Mbilli on October 31 in Riyadh. Mbilli holds the WBC super middleweight belt, so this one is a title defense for the Frenchman and a title challenge for Canelo. Combat Press lists Alvarez as the betting favorite, though former champion Paulie Malignaggi has picked Mbilli to pull the upset. Malignaggi’s case rests on Mbilli’s relentless punching volume and his willingness to keep marching forward, which is exactly the kind of fight Canelo usually wants to slow down and counter.
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The date already moved once. Canelo vs. Mbilli was originally set for September 12 before being pushed back, according to MMA Mania.
The safety fight around the fight
The bigger cloud over October 31 has nothing to do with styles. MMA Mania reported that dozens of missile and drone attacks have hit Saudi Arabia this month, including multiple strikes at the Riyadh airport that killed over a dozen people and injured hundreds. Turki Alalshikh is pushing ahead anyway. He wrote on social media that “Canelo reached out and told me he’ll still fight in Riyadh this October, no matter what happens. He fears nothing.”
Oscar De La Hoya wasn’t buying it. He called for the fight to be relocated, arguing that the people working the event are the ones at risk, and he took a direct shot at Alvarez’s travel plans. “Well Canelo might not have any fear because he’s flying into a private airport!” De La Hoya said on social media. He also pointed out that Riyadh had already moved a tennis event scheduled for the following week and said the boxing card should follow suit.
Quick take
I love a fighter who loses and immediately asks for the guy back. That’s the right instinct, and Canelo vs. Crawford 2 is the kind of money fight everybody would buy. But publicly talking up a rematch two weeks before facing a champion who wants to throw a hundred punches a round is how favorites end up starring in someone else’s highlight reel. Mbilli is a pressure fighter with a belt and a former champ picking him to win. Canelo can watch the Crawford tape a sixth time after October 31, assuming the fight actually happens in Riyadh on that date.
