‘Canelo’ Alvarez has a new number one contender for two of his titles and many did not see it coming

While there is no date yet it will be a good battle

Canelo Alvarez reacts before fighting Edgar Berlanga in a super middleweight title bout Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Saúl ‘Canelo’ Álvarez would already have a new challenger and the fight could be as soon as early next year. Through his social networks, American boxing promoter Bob Arum announced that the Frenchman, Christian Mbilli is the number one contender of the World Boxing Council (WBC) and the World Boxing Association (WBA) to face to the Mexican for the super middleweight title.

“Christian Mbilli is now the WBC and WBA number one contender for the super middleweight crown held by Canelo Álvarez. A Mbilli fight against Canelo in May would be a tremendously exciting spectacle, since Mbilli is a boxer of relentless action and punching,” Bob Arum wrote on his X account.

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This would be a fact, since in the last WBA ratings update on September 30, Mbilli replaced Edgar Berlanga, who lost by unanimous decision to Canelo, the Mexican is the WBA super middleweight champion and also has the belts of the WBC and WBO.

A sense of what to expect

The Frenchman was in second place after beating Sergiy Derevyanchenko in August by unanimous decision in ten rounds and with the defeat, the Puerto Rican Edgar Berlanga moved to fourth place.

At 29 years old, Mbilli is rated among the top three in the division by all four organizations and with the victory he maintained his undefeated record of 28-0 with 23 knockouts.

While it is yet to be seen a response by Saúl Alvarez or the rest of Team Canelo, it s well known that will not back down from a fright and it seems that this can be a good encounter in the ring, possibly in May of 2025.