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Apparently, Christian Mbilli fits the bill.
After losing his Ring, IBF, WBA, WBC, and WBO super middleweight titles to Terence Crawford last year, Canelo Alvarez underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left elbow.
Now that he’s all healed up, Alvarez has agreed to take on Mbilli, The Ring’s No. 3 168-pounder and WBC champion, in September.
Mbilli, 31, might throw a ton of punches, but Devin Haney doesn’t believe Alvarez (63-3-2, 39 KOs) has much to worry about.
“I think this is going to be easy for Canelo,” he said Monday on "Inside The Ring." “This style is tailor-made for Canelo. He stands right there in front of you.”
Standing and banging normally works for Mbilli, but in his last fight it nearly ended disastrously.
On the undercard of Alvarez vs. Crawford in Las Vegas, Lester Martinez battled Mbilli to a split draw and the Cameroon native retained his WBC interim title.
Mbilli (29-0-1, 24 KOs) was eventually elevated to full champion on January 27 after the WBC stripped Crawford of his crown for failing to pay a six-figure sanctioning fee. Mbilli was ordered to fight Hamzah Sheeraz for the vacant title, but the popular British star went in another direction. He’ll face Alem Begic for the vacant WBO title on May 23 at the Pyramids of Giza in Giza, Egypt.
Over the last few years, Alvarez, who’s ranked No. 1 by The Ring at 168 pounds, has been viewed as a declining fighter. That might be the case, but that doesn't impact Haney's opinion.
“I think he's a guy who's going to come forward and he’s going to be right there," he said. "I think Canelo is going to go in there and do typical Canelo things.”
Inside The Ring airs live every Monday on DAZN (2 p.m. ET/7 p.m. BST), providing interviews, analysis and breaking news with the sport's most captivating names. Portions of each episode will become available on The Ring’s YouTube channel after they stream live. Also follow on Instagram (@insideringshow), TikTok (@InsideRingShow), X (@InsideRingShow) and Facebook (Inside Ring Show).
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