Lester Martinez Eyes Canelo and Mbilli After 10th-Round KO

Lester Martinez just kept the pressure on the entire super-middleweight division. The unbeaten Guatemalan stopped Luka Plantic in the 10th round last weekend, his second successful defence of the WBC interim strap after outpointing Immanuwel Aleem in March. That leaves the 30-year-old sitting exactly where he wants to be: as the mandatory challenger, waiting to fight whoever comes out of the sport's biggest name fight of the autumn.

That fight is Canelo Alvarez against Christian Mbilli, booked for October 31 in Riyadh. Canelo (63-2-2, 39 KO) hasn't boxed since September 2025, when Terence Crawford lifted his undisputed 168lb crown on a unanimous decision. On that same card, Mbilli held onto the WBC interim title with a 10-round draw against Martinez — and got upgraded to full champion in December after Crawford vacated all four belts and retired as a three-division undisputed king.

The Order of Operations

So Canelo now has a clean route back to one of his old belts, and Mbilli defends his WBC title for the first time. The winner could then be ordered to face Martinez, who's built a genuine case as the man nobody at 168 wants to deal with. Two defences, a draw with the reigning champ, and a spotless record — the mandatory paperwork practically writes itself.

Martinez isn't shy about the endgame. Speaking through a translator after the Plantic win, he said a rematch with Mbilli will happen, possibly next year or the year after, and that either the Mbilli fight or a shot at Canelo makes sense for him. He knows the world's attention lands on Riyadh on October 31, and he intends to be right there to capitalise on it.

The Crawford Blueprint

There's a wrinkle that makes Martinez's camp especially bullish. Brian 'BoMac' McIntyre — the trainer who guided Crawford (42-0, 31 KO) to that decision over Canelo — is now in Martinez's corner. McIntyre reckons he's already got the blueprint for beating Alvarez, and said he's confident he can steer Martinez past either Canelo or Mbilli.

That's the sell, anyway. Whether the belts, the promoters and the money cooperate is another matter. But the fight math is clean: Canelo-Mbilli decides who wears the WBC title into 2027, and Martinez is the name attached to whatever comes next. Beat Plantic inside 10 and you get to make that kind of noise.