The bout was billed as "Return of the King" and was meant to restore Alvarez's standing as a world champion. He lost his undisputed super middleweight championship to Terence Crawford by unanimous decision, a defeat that cost him the WBC, IBF, WBO and The Ring titles. He also lost to Dmitry Bivol in 2022. This was his first fight as a challenger since that year, and his second in Saudi Arabia under a deal with Riyadh Season. Over 21 years he has had 68 professional fights.

Mbilli holds the WBC belt after moving up from interim champion, though accounts differ on how: one outlet ties it to Crawford's retirement, another to an interim win over Maciej Sulecki, and another to January. He went into the fight with a recent draw on his record. The fight had first been scheduled for September 12 before it was moved to October 31.

Alvarez framed his choice of opponent simply. "I don't believe in shortcuts. That's why I go straight to the champion," he said. Mbilli was just as direct. "I'm ready to shock the world," he said, and he told The Ring, "He's made a mistake, and I'm going to make him pay."

The card went ahead despite conflict and a recent wave of drone and missile attacks involving Saudi Arabia. The Evening Standard names Houthi forces as responsible for the attacks, which led to other sporting events in the region being postponed or cancelled. DAZN carried the fight on pay-per-view at $79.99 in the U.S. and £24.99 in the U.K.

The undercard was titled "Mexico vs the World." Rafael Espinoza kept his WBO featherweight title with a third-round TKO of Ricardo Blandon, though Yahoo Sports listed his opponent as Lorenzo Parra. Reito Tsutsumi of Japan stopped Raymundo Rojas in the second round, and Brayan Leon beat Hector Aguirre by unanimous decision.

Jaime Munguia defended his WBA super middleweight title against Nikita Zon in a bout where referee Tony Weeks stepped in. The Guardian called the stoppage controversial, saying Munguia had been given time to recover and then hurt Zon. Zon landed 28 of 65 punches to Munguia's 18 of 54, and 43 of the 46 connects between them were power shots.