Canelo Alvarez-Christian Mbilli fight still scheduled for Riyadh after US departure order and aerial alert

The WBC super middleweight title fight between Christian Mbilli and Canelo Alvarez is listed for Saturday, Oct. 31, in Riyadh, according to Bad Left Hook. BoxingScene places it at Kingdom Arena. Outlets differ on the venue name.

Two security developments came before the fight. BoxingScene reported that the US State Department ordered non-emergency government employees and their family members to leave Saudi Arabia. It said State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott cited increasing hostilities by Iranian-supported Houthis against Saudi Arabia, including attacks on civilian airports and other critical infrastructure. In that earlier report, BoxingScene also said Saudi officials had so far maintained that the DAZN-televised event would go ahead as planned.

The second development came Thursday, two days before the fight. BoxingScene reported that Saudi officials issued a hostile aerial threat warning in Riyadh, and that a follow-up alert lifting it came within hours. According to BoxingScene, Thursday's press conference went ahead as planned, with both fighters attending and saying they were happy to be in Saudi Arabia. The outlet also cited a source at the scene as saying locals have little concern about air strikes.

BoxingScene reported that nearly every major sporting event in the region has been canceled or postponed after Houthi missile and drone attacks. It also reported that 13 people were reportedly killed and more than 300 injured in an attack on Riyadh Airport earlier this month. Bad Left Hook described the event as taking place in a city that has been under "near daily bombardment" by Houthis based in Yemen.

The undercard has been affected. BoxingScene reported that trainer Robert Garcia explained Lindolfo Delgado's withdrawal from the card by citing missile alerts and travel chaos. Delgado (24-0) was due to fight Arthur Biyarslanov, who had already arrived in Saudi Arabia.

Bad Left Hook says the main event will air on DAZN PPV and the DAZN Ultimate tier.

What we don't know yet

• Whether the fight will go ahead as planned. The statements that it will come from Saudi officials as relayed by BoxingScene, and we did not find a direct official Saudi statement in our source notes.
• What happened after Thursday's alert. BoxingScene's news report says the warning was lifted within hours. A separate BoxingScene piece says Houthi missiles followed the warning and were intercepted. We could not confirm that independently, so it is not reported here as fact.
• When the State Department order and the Saudi statement were made relative to Thursday's alert. Both come from an earlier BoxingScene report, so "so far" reflects the time of that report.
• The State Department's position is relayed through BoxingScene, and most of the security reporting we reviewed comes from that outlet.
• Delgado's reasons for withdrawing. The reasons given here are Garcia's as reported by BoxingScene, and we have not confirmed them independently.
• The exact fight-night start time and ring-walk time. Outlets list different times, and some listings appear to refer to different parts of the card, so we are not giving a time.
• Some details differ by outlet, including the venue name and the airport attack toll.