Tim Bradley has made his call on the Canelo Mbilli fight — and the Hall of Famer only sees it ending one way. Speaking to FightHype ahead of the October 31 super-middleweight showdown in Riyadh, Bradley backed Canelo Alvarez to dominate WBC champion Christian Mbilli, predicting the Mexican will “piece him up” and look “back to his best”.
Mbilli will be making the first defence of the WBC 168lb title he was upgraded to — from interim to full champion — following the retirement of Terence Crawford. Crawford became undisputed super-middleweight king by outpointing Canelo over 12 rounds in September, the same night Mbilli held his interim belt with a 10-round draw against Lester Martinez.
The Canelo Mbilli Verdict
“He’s going to piece Mbilli’s ass up. I like Mbilli — tough guy, comes to bring the pain. It’s going to be a hell of a fight,” Bradley said. “But Canelo’s going to catch and shoot on his ass all night long. Uppercuts, hooks … it’s going to be bad. [Canelo’s] going to look like he’s back.”
Bradley’s reasoning is stylistic: at 36, Canelo is seen as the more technical operator, while the 31-year-old Frenchman throws in bunches but tends to come forward in straight lines. Prior to the Crawford defeat, Canelo had been unbeaten since his 2022 loss to Dmitry Bivol.
Whether the counter-punching veteran can still summon that form against Mbilli’s relentless volume is the question Riyadh will answer on October 31. For more build-up, see our full Canelo coverage.
