Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez is gearing up for fight number 69 after suffering just the third defeat of his career last year.

The Mexican icon was relieved of his undisputed super-middleweight world championship by Terence Crawford last year, his first loss at 168lbs and third overall after coming up short against Floyd Mayweather in 2013 and Dmitry Bivol in 2022.

With Crawford’s retirement taking a rematch off the table for Canelo, he has announced his return on a September card in Saudi Arabia, a fight that boxing powerbroker Turki Alalshikh says will come with a world title.

In an interview with Bowks talking Bouts, Christian Mbilli – who was elevated from interim to full champion when Crawford was stripped of the belt – made it clear he wants to be the man in the opposite corner.

“For me, my goal right now is to fight Canelo because I was [the] long time number one WBC challenger. Number one challenger, number one on WBC for Canelo. Now I have to show that I am the number one of the division.”

Mbilli fought on the Canelo–Crawford undercard, drawing with Crawford stablemate Lester Martinez to retain the belt. The Cameroon-born Frenchman said, in the same interview, that he intends to rematch Martinez down the line.

The fight with Alvarez has little to no obstacles and plenty of weight behind it: Turki Alalshikh, Canelo’s good standing with the WBC and his number one ranking, and it being undoubtedly the most lucrative option for Mbilli. If the Mexican wants to test himself, the opportunity is there.