What to Know
- No bombs dropped inside or outside at the final pre-fight news conference for the “Mexico vs the World” card in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
- All of the card’s fighters appeared on stage, including Canelo Alvarez and Christian Mbilli, along with their teams.
- The reason for the unexpected early start time: Halloween and Día de los Muertos.
The 18 fighters appearing on the “Mexico vs the World” card had their last say in Riyadh on Thursday at the final pre-fight news conference. Despite the concerns swirling around them about the safety of staging the card in a region of the Middle East under attack by Houthi rebels firing missiles and flying explosive-laden drones, everyone appeared relaxed and in good spirits.
It’s a bit of a stretch to call it a news conference, given the normal expectation that speakers be asked questions by members of the news media. All questions were scripted and asked by event emcee Richard Schaefer, the 64-year-old former Golden Boy Promotions CEO who now happens to be Canelo’s manager and the executive at the head of Canelo Promotions.
An audience appeared to be composed of Saudi officials, royalty, and their guests, who politely applauded during the proceedings.
This is an ongoing gripe of ours. If promoters want to stage the scripted presentations, that is their prerogative. But please, don’t insult us by calling them news conferences. Now, we’ll move on.
Where’s The Fire?
For our taste, the event was far TOO relaxed. Despite coming in as the challenger for the first time in 11 years, Álvarez didn’t demonstrate the kind of passion and fire fans have grown used to seeing from him. The fans love to see the spicy declarations of victory, the taunting between opponents, and the fired-up face-offs.
While Álvarez and Mbilli said the right words, there was no passion behind them. What we wouldn’t give to see a fired-up Canelo yelling “Viva México, Cabrones!”
Mbilli got right to the point. He’s never been particularly bombastic. He has the same smooth personality as his Cameroonian countryman Frances Ngannou.
“I’m ready to shock the world, and that’s it,” said Mbilli. “I have a big respect for Canelo for all his career, and I want to congratulate him for this. But on Saturday, will be a different story, and I’m coming for the win.”
Asked what it will take to beat an opponent who has never been knocked down in 532 rounds of boxing, Mbilli said, “I only need to be myself, and that’s it.”
Álvarez admitted it was a strange experience to come in as the challenger, without any titles to his name. He thanked his team, starting with his career-long trainer Eddy Reynoso, for “always believing in me.”
“I’m ready for Saturday. I’m the challenger now, but guess what? Always in my mind, I’m the champion, since I was a little kid. So please tune in Saturday night because it’s gonna be a special night, “Mexico contra el mundo” (Mexico against the world).
Asked why he decided on Mbilli as his opponent, Álvarez replied, “I don’t believe in shortcuts. I go straight with the champion. I already have the experience. I’ve been a champion many years, and I want to be a champion again. I want to face the best. He’s a champion, and that’s it.”
Before the face-off, the fighters exchanged their last words, with Mbilli saying, “Good luck. See you Saturday,” to which Canelo replied, “See you Saturday.” That’s it. That’s IT?
Happy Halloween and Feliz Día de los Muertos from Canelo Álvarez
The one bit of news came from Schaefer, who explained what caused the last-minute change in the broadcast schedule earlier this week, with the “Mexico vs the World” card starting hours earlier than originally planned.
“Some people have asked me about the timing, and so the question was, why so early?” said Schaefer.
“This is Halloween, and (Canelo) wanted to make sure that his many fans who have young family, young children, are going to have an opportunity to do both: to watch his fight early afternoon, and then in the evening go and take their children to trick-or-treating and celebrate his victory.
“That’s why he was asking for the start time to be around the time when it is,” said Schaefer.
“In addition to that, as I mentioned, this is Halloween in Mexico. It’s Día de los Muertos, which is one of the biggest Mexican holidays. We of course all know that it is Canelo who made the Cinco de Mayo dates and Quince de September, the Mexican Independence Day dates, to what they are today.
“Now he is going to create another legacy, another (boxing) date, with the Día de Los Muertos. That will become another one of those Mexican traditional boxing holidays,” summed up Schaefer.
Whether you buy into this story, fans in North America, from the Great White North to the Yucatan Peninsula, will need to adjust to this schedule.
Per announcements made quietly on Monday by DAZN Boxing, the fight card begins at 10 a.m. ET/7 a.m. ET with the “Before the Bell” early prelim fights. These are free to all DAZN subscribers.
The four-fight main card will begin at 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT. Canelo Alvarez and Christian Mbilli will enter the ring for the main event ringwalk at approximately 4:30 p.m. ET/1:30 p.m. PT. This positions it to take place at approximately 10:30 p.m. in Riyadh.
The main fight card is a DAZN PPV priced at $79.99 or included for DAZN Ultimate subscribers.
Weigh-ins are scheduled on Friday, October 30, also airing live on DAZN Boxing at 2 p.m. ET/11 a.m. PT.
Ongoing Safety Threats Still A Reality
While this article reports on events that would be routine during a standard fight week nearly anywhere in the world, nothing about this Saturday’s fight card is “normal.”
Ongoing and serious threats of harm by Yemen-based Houthi rebels continue in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East. As Thursday’s appearance by the fighters took place, multiple news outlets, including Arab News and Al Jazeera English, reported two ballistic missiles fired by the Houthi militia in Yemen toward Riyadh were shot down by Saudi Arabia’s air defenses on Thursday.
The missiles were “intercepted and destroyed,” the Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen said on Thursday evening. Saudi Arabia’s civil defense said one person in the Saudi capital received minor injuries and a house and vehicle were damaged.
The civil defense earlier issued warnings for Riyadh, Najran and Al-Kharj, before announcing the danger had passed about 20 minutes later. The Riyadh Airport remains closed, and the fight card venue is just a few miles from the airport. Nothing a missile or a drone delivered munition can’t hit with a house full of Saudi officials inside.
Nevertheless, the Mexico vs the World card is still scheduled on Saturday.
Mexico vs the World Fight Card
Main Event: Ringwalk ETA 4:30 p.m. ET/1:30 p.m. PT
- Canelo Alvarez of Guadalajara, Mexico (63-3-2, 39 KOs) vs. Christian Mbilli of Montreal, Quebec, Canada (29-0-1. 24 KOs), for Mbilli’s WBC World Super Middleweight title
Main Event Support: 2 p.m. ET/11 a.m. PT
- Jaime Munguia of Tijuana, Mexico (46-2,35 KOs) vs.Nikita Zon of Russia (12-0-1, 10 KOs), for Munguia’s WBA World Super Middleweight title
- Rafael Espinoza of Mexico (28-0,24 KOs) vs. Ricardo Blandon of Nicaragua (21-6, 14 KOs), for Espinoza’s WBO World Super Featherweight title
- David Picasso of Colima, Mexico (33-1-1, 18 KOs) vs.Carl Martin of the Philippines (28-0, 21 KOs), for the WBC Silver Featherweight title
‘Before the Bell’ Undercard Bouts: 11 a.m. ET/8 a.m. PT
- Bek Nurmaganbet of Kazakhstan (16-0, 14 KOs), vs. Marcos Vazquez Rodriguez of Tijuana, Mexico (21-3-1, 10 KOs), super middleweights.
- Reito Tsutsumi of Japan (5-0, 4 KOs) vs. Raymundo Rojas Garcia of Mexico (16-2, 11 KOs), featherweights
- Bryan Leon of Cuba (12, 9 KOs) vs. Hector Aguirre of Mexico (7-0, 3 KOs), super middleweights.
- Emiliano Rojo Vazquez of Mexico (21-0, 8 KOs) vs. Flavius Biea of Romania (24-3, 12 KOs), middleweights.
- Sultan Al-Mohammed of Saudi Arabia (5-0,4 KOs) vs. Erick Villegas of Mexico (5-2-3, 1 KO), lightweights.
Gayle Falkenthal is an award-winning boxing journalist with more than four dozen awards for both written and video coverage from the Boxing Writers Association of America, Society of Professional Journalists, and San Diego Press Club, where she is the past president. She is the only woman journalist who is a full voting member of the BWAA. She is the Boxing Editor for NY Fights based in San Diego, California.
