Alarm? What alarm?

By Norm Frauenheim

It was a boxing news conference without some of the usual trash talk and chest thumping.

An impassive Canelo Alvarez stared straight ahead, his eyes and body language revealing nothing.

“I am the challenger here,’’ Canelo said Thursday during a newser live-streamed from The Venue in Riyadh. “But always in my mind I am the champion, even when I was a little kid.’’

Christian Mbilli, whose super-middleweight belt is the only reason he has a role in the Canelo comeback, was predictable. Thanks, he said as he promised an upset.

Mbili promoter Camille Estephan had a little bit more to say.

“We are not here to be part of the Canelo story,’’ Estephan said. “There is a Canelo bias here. Canelo this, Canelo that. We are here to write our own story.’’

On Thursday, however, neither Canelo nor Mbilli was the story. Instead, it was about something never mentioned during the newser, yet probably impossible to ignore on the streets outside of The Venue.

The story, which quickly went global, was an alert:

“Warning. City of Riyadh is under a hostile aerial threat. Please remain calm, stay indoors or in a safe place away from windows and doors, and follow the instructions of Civil Defense.”

The warning was taken down within hours, according to news reports. Nevertheless, a warning just a couple of days before the scheduled Canelo-Mbilli featured card Saturday at Riyadh’s Kingdom Arena is just the latest in a persistent pattern that says:

The threat is still there.

It follows warnings issued by Mexico and United States, telling its citizens not to travel to Riyadh, which was struck by Houthi missile-and-drone attacks earlier this month. Thirteen were killed and more than 300 injured during an attack on the city’s airport, according to reports.

Yet, the show goes on.

During Thursday’s newser, promoter Richard Schaefer anticipated big numbers for the DAZN-streamed card (First bell: 1:00 pm PT/4:00 pm ET).

Canelo, after all, is still boxing’s biggest draw. After more than a year since a loss to Terence Crawford, fans will want to see how much of Canelo is still there.

Still, it’s impossible not to at least wonder whether a potential attack is also a pay-per-view draw. Cynical? Of course.

But boxing is a cynical business, and too much of what we read and hear about Saturday’s card is money.

 Canelo has been praised for his loyalty to Turki Alalshikh who has said he paid Canelo more than $100 million for his scorecard loss to Crawford in Las Vegas September 2025.

Reportedly, Canelo’s purse is $47 million for the Halloween date. But to collect it, he has to fight in Riyadh Saturday.

Plenty of opinion why the fight shouldn’t happen, of course, has been uttered here and just about everywhere. Trainer Robert Garcia and his junior-welterweight Lindoflo Delgado didn’t go. There are conflicting reports as to why, including Delgado, who is reported to have a visa issue.

Whatever the reason, the wise choice is to stay home. Common sense says the money could have been renegotiated, the card could have been postponed until a later time in a safer place.

It wasn’t, leaving this corner with only the hope that the skies above Riyadh’s Kingdom Arena remain peaceful Saturday.

Notes On A Scorecard

David Benavidez has often said he’d go back down in weight. His speed and overwhelming punch volume, he says, are a result of fighting at light-heavyweight and super-middle.

“My last fight was probably the best fight I’ve had in my whole career,’’ he said at a Hollywood newser Wednesday formally introducing his cruiserweight unification fight versus Michal Cieslak Dec. 5 in an AZ homecoming at Glendale’s Desert Diamond Arena. “It was the heaviest I’ve been and the fastest and strongest I’ve felt.

“Fighting the guys at lower weight classes has helped make this transition to cruiserweight easier. I feel like my combinations and punch output is gonna be too much for anyone in this division.’’

No complaints about Thurman from Ortiz

Vergil Ortiz Jr. comes back on the Dec. 5 AZ card as a middleweight after a year layoff, anxious to fight Keith Thurman, an aging former welterweight champion.

There are a lot of complaints about Thurman, but not from Ortiz.

“I’m facing a very game opponent in Keith Thurman,” Ortiz says. “He was my favorite welterweight in 2017, and I picked him over Shawn Porter and Danny Garcia.’’

He also tried to explain away Thurman’s last fight, a loss to 6-foot-6 Sebastian Fundora.

“He lost to a guy who doesn’t have to bend over to tie his shoes,’’ Ortiz said.