Oleksandr Usyk was ringside in Riyadh to watch his new friend and training partner Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez return to winning ways this past weekend.

Since then, he has taken time out and addressed a long-standing elbow injury before returning to challenge Frenchman Christian Mbilli for the WBC super middleweight title.

The younger fighter proved no match for the 68-fight veteran, who used every bit of experience to control the fight on the back foot with his razor-sharp counterpunching. Canelo picked Mbilli off at will and made his opponent look crude despite him not having lost fight before this weekend.

In a post on X, Usyk was full of praise for Canelo.

“Congratulations on your victory @Canelo! I know how much hard work went into it. May God watch over you, bro🙏🏻🥊”

Canelo turned professional at 15 and is now 36, so how many fights he has left is unclear. He didn’t lay out any immediate plans in the ring after his latest victory but has said before he would like to avenge the losses he has on his record to Crawford and light heavyweight Dmitry Bivol, though the former is retired and the latter is soon to fight Callum Smith.

Usyk meanwhile has been linked with going back down to the cruiserweight division in which he was undisputed champion to take on the fearsome and unbeaten three-weight ruler David Benavidez.