Turki Alalshikh announced on social media that, as first revealed in July, Canelo Alvarez’s WBC super middleweight title bid against Christian Mbilli will land on October 31st at The Venue in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
This news comes less than 24 hours after BoxingScene’s Lance Pugmire brought word of some significant lingering issues, notably the fact that VADA has yet to be paid or even contacted for drug testing. In addition, the “Mexico vs the World” undercard has yet to be confirmed; Lindolfo Delgado
vs Arthur Biyarslanov for the vacant IBF super lightweight title and a title defense for WBO featherweight champ Rafael Espinoza are on the table, but per Pugmire, neither Delgado nor Espinoza has been offered a contract.
The real elephant in the room, however, is the ongoing war in Iran. The U.S.’s high-volume air campaign provoked a series of retaliatory strikes on its Gulf allies, which increased in intensity this summer when the Houthis of Yemen joined the fray. Recent attacks struck Riyadh’s main airport among other “sensitive” sites and the State Department implores travelers to “reconsider” traveling to Saudi Arabia “due to risk of Iranian drone and missile targeting of American interests, armed conflict, terrorism, exit bans, and local laws regarding social media activity.”
To recap, we’re a hair over a month away from showtime with no drug testing, no undercard, and Saudi Arabia’s primary business partner telling people to avoid going there at all costs. I’ve talked about how the entire Riyadh Season exists to indulge Alalshikh’s appetites, with widespread enjoyment an unimportant if welcome side-effect, but this is pushing it even by those standards.
Which is a shame, because the ingredients are there for Canelo’s (63-3-2, 39 KO) most entertaining fight in ages. Mbilli (29-0-1, 24 KO) is a tank of a man whom neither fatigue nor head trauma can prevent from marching forward and slinging heat all night. This is quality boxeo, as the youth like to say, and I’ve got my fingers crossed that geopolitical interference doesn’t take it from us.
