Does Alvarez have enough left in the tank to reach the mountaintop again? Is Mbilli ready to stake his claim atop the super middleweight division?

We’ll get the answers to those questions when Alvarez challenges Mbilli for his WBC super middleweight title Saturday night at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The 12-round main event of this Ring card promoted as “Mexico Versus The World” will stream on DAZN Pay-Per-View and as part of the DAZN Ultimate plan. DAZN’s undercard coverage is set to begin at 2 p.m. GMT in the UK and 10 a.m. ET in the United States.

Alvarez (63-3-2, 39 KOs) and Mbilli (29-0-1, 24 KOs) have both been out of the ring for 13 months.

Terence Crawford beat Alvarez by unanimous decision to become the undisputed super middleweight champion in September 2025 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. Earlier that night, Mbilli fought to a thrilling split draw with Lester Martinez to retain his WBC interim 168-pound championship.

Mbilli was elevated to WBC champion after Crawford retired in December.

Alvarez, The Ring’s No. 1 contender for the title Crawford vacated, and Mbilli were scheduled to fight on September 12, but Alvarez’s personal matters led to it being pushed back to Saturday.

Here are the keys to victory for both fighters.

If Alvarez is going to beat Mbilli, he has to find a way to deter him in the opening rounds.

Mbilli, ranked No. 3 among The Ring’s contenders for a vacant championship, is going to pressure and fight at a relentless rate until he’s given a reason to pause. His pressure and volume have broken nearly every opponent he has faced through 30 fights.

The caveat is that Mbilli is there to be hit. While his chin has held up thus far, the Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico native represents a different level of opponent in nearly every aspect, even in the latter stages of his career.

The four-division champion prefers a slower fight, in which he pushes forward and forces his opponents into traps. From there, his defense and upper-body movement make him hard to hit and help set up his counter shots and the rest of his offense.

Pushing Mbilli back will likely be difficult unless Alvarez can hurt him. Alvarez, 36, has to land something big early to make Mbilli cautious or slow him down. Getting Mbilli to fight at a slower pace than he prefers will give Alvarez a much better chance at becoming champion again.

Mbilli, 31, prefers a phone booth brawl. That could also play into Alvarez’s hands.

Alvarez’s uppercuts are one of his better weapons. With how Mbilli fights and defends, the uppercuts will be available for Alvarez.

Martinez found success with uppercuts on the inside and as Mbilli tried to close the gap. Alvarez would be wise to follow suit and fire uppercuts whenever Mbilli tries to move to the inside.

When Alvarez dropped Jaime Munguia in the fourth round of their fight in May 2024, he threw a left hook and followed it with a right uppercut between his guard, sending him crumbling to the canvas. Alvarez effectively seized control of the fight from that moment and coasted to a unanimous-decision victory.

Other instances when the uppercut was a vital weapon for Alvarez were when he broke Billy Joe Saunders’ orbital bone with a right uppercut before stopping him after eight rounds in May 2021. He also dropped James Kirkland with a right uppercut before scoring a devastating third-round knockout in May 2015.

Using Mbilli’s aggression against him will be key to Alvarez’s chances. Throwing and landing hard uppercuts on the inside can help him achieve just that.

If you’re going to slow someone down, it’s tough to find a better option than attacking the body.

Alvarez’s body punching is among the best parts of his game. He has scored stoppage victories with it in the past, and it’d be especially useful against someone like Mbilli.

When they’re on the inside, Alvarez can use his uppercuts to split Mbilli’s defense, then throw left and right hooks around his elbows to the body. Alvarez has to go to the body early and often.

It may not pay off immediately, but if Alvarez can land quality body shots early and often, the fight could tilt in his favor late against Mbilli, who has yet to go 12 rounds in his career.

The pace of the fight will likely dictate who is in control.

Mbilli and Alvarez are on opposite sides of the spectrum when it comes to the kind of fight they prefer. Mbilli’s stamina and physical strength are the best aspects of his game. Those assets will create his path to victory once again against Alvarez, who has slowed down in the second half of some of his fights.

The Cameroonian champion, who trains out of Montreal, Canada, can make Alvarez really uncomfortable if he’s pushing him back and forcing him to fight him off. With Alvarez coming off a 13-month layoff and the mileage he has accumulated in his career, Mbilli’s persistent pressure could have even more of an effect.

While there are areas of Mbilli’s game that he has to improve on to help his chances against Alvarez, he can’t get away from what got him to this point. He must push a fast pace and lean on his pressure and volume if he’s going to hand Alvarez his second straight loss.

One of the detriments to how Mbilli fights is that he isn’t difficult to find.

He’s going to push his way to the inside and rip combinations to the head and body. However, Mbilli can’t afford to just walk right into range and risk getting caught and countered by Alvarez.

Mbilli has to move his head and stay off the center line as he closes the gap. Once Mbilli is there, his aforementioned skills can thrive. He must get there safely and can’t walk straight into range.

As relentless as Mbilli is with how he fights, he can’t afford to be reckless.

Mbilli has to be smart about setting up his offense. That starts with establishing his jab first.

Mbilli boasts a stiff jab, and it’s going to be vital to setting up the rest of his offense. From there, Mbilli’s barrage of hooks and uppercuts on the inside can tilt the fight in his favor.

Even if Mbilli dials it back just a smidge, his aggression and volume could overwhelm Alvarez. Mbilli would be wise to exercise more caution given Alvarez’s timing and counter-punching capabilities.

And if Mbilli can find a good balance of being smarter while still maintaining a high work rate, he could be well-positioned to earn the biggest win of his career.