Canelo Alvarez says he needs to combat a rematch in opposition to Dmitry Bivol in Could 2025 if he defeats Artur Beterbiev of their undisputed gentle heavyweight championship conflict on October twelfth. Alvarez would nonetheless must win his combat in opposition to Edgar Berlanga on Saturday night time to satisfy Bivol subsequent Could.
(Credit score: Ryan Hafey & Rey Del Rio/Premier Boxing Champions)
If Canelo took the combat with Bivol subsequent, it might be one approach to get again at David Benavidez, WBC obligatory for gentle heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev’s belt with that group.
Benavidez is relying on combating the winner of the Bivol-Beterbiev winner subsequent. Canelo might mess up Benavidez by combating Bivol, beating him, after which vacating the 4 belts.
That might fragment them, stopping Benavidez from capturing them like he’s hoping. Nonetheless, nobody expects Benavidez to beat the winner of the Bivol vs. Beterbiev as a result of he seemed bang common in his debut at 175 on Could 18th, laboring to a extremely doubtful 12-round unanimous over Oleksandr Gvozdyk.
Canelo (61-2-2, 39 KOs) doesn’t say why he wouldn’t wish to combat Artur Beterbiev (20-0, 20 KOs) if he emerges victorious in opposition to Bivol (23-0, 12 KOs) of their undisputed combat.
It might be that Canelo’s solely focus is on avenging his 12-round unanimous determination loss to Bivol on Could 7, 2022. All three judges scored the combat identically, 115-113. That was very odd.
In addition they had Canelo sweeping the primary 4 rounds, and few followers agreed with that. I watched the combat and scored it for Bivol with a large margin of 120-108. A extra sensible cause Canelo needs Bivol is that Beterbiev is a harmful puncher and would possible knock him out.
That’s not a approach that Canelo would wish to lose. At the very least with Bivol, the one factor Canelo has to fret about is shedding by determination becaue he’s not a knockout puncher. Bivol is afraid to get hit, and at all times dashes away when below assault. Beterbiev wouldn’t do this if Canelo attacked him. He would stand his floor and bludgeon him to the canvas, sending him out in an inglorious approach.
“After I spoke to Canelo yesterday, he stated he needs Dmitry Bivol subsequent, offered, in fact, Bivol does beat Beterbiev on October twelfth in Riyadh for the undisputed gentle heavyweight championship,” stated Mike Coppinger on X, speaking about Canelo Alvarez desirous to combat Dmitry Bivol if he’s victorious over Artur Beterbiev of their conflict on October twelfth.
For this combat to have an opportunity of taking place, not solely should Bivol defeat Beterbiev, however His Excellency Turki Alalshikh should additionally conform to it. There’s already speak of Bivol and Beteriev combating a direct rematch. Even when they don’t, Turki might want the winner to combat WBC interim gentle heavyweight champion David Benavidez subsequent. Turki is the one who will determine which combat takes place, not Canelo.
“What’s good about that combat, if it occurs, is that it’s an actual departure from Canelo’s final three or 4 fights. That’s a combat the place Canelo goes to be a determined underdog. I believed when he fought [Bivol] in Could 2022, that was a 10-2, 9-3 combat at finest for Canelo,” stated Coppiner.
If the rematch occurs, Bivol could be a transparent favourite over Canelo, and yeah, it might be a departure from the blokes Alvarez has fought in his final 4 fights. However it’s nonetheless unclear whether or not Bivol will get previous Beterbiev on October twelfth as a result of he’s seemed chinny and skittish in latest fights. Lyndon Arthur had Bivol damage final December, and he seemed timid in his final contest in opposition to little-known fringe contender Malik Zinad on June 1st.
“Canelo says, ‘Look, I do know I can beat him. I’m a greater fighter.’ I stated, ‘Your hand was injured, proper?’ ‘Not simply my hand. All the pieces was off,’ and you may inform the loss nonetheless bothers him,” stated Coppinger about Canelo’s defeat to Bivol two years in the past.
Canelo’s hand damage isn’t the explanation why he misplaced the combat to Bivol. He was too small for Bivol, and unable to deal with the mixture punching from the higher conditioned gentle heavyweight champion. Canelo seemed exhausted by the third spherical and was getting hammered by Bivol, who seemed like he was combating in first gear.
“I feel for a man that could be a first-ballot Corridor of Famer and an all-time nice, that’s an actual legacy-defining combat. Should you can beat a pound-for-pound man like Bivol, who could be coming off of a win over Beterbiev and could be undisputed champion, Canelo might be undisputed in a second weight. I feel that may be large, and once more, nobody goes to choose Canelo in that combat,” stated Coppinger.
I doubt that Canelo’s true rationale for desirous to combat Bivol is to seize the sunshine heavyweight undisputed championship. The true cause is that he’ll receives a commission large cash from that combat by His Excellency Turki Alalshikh, and he’ll have a built-in excuse if he loses.
Canelo can blame it on him transferring up in weight to 175. Lastly, Canelo can take the combat from below Benavidez’s nostril to get candy revenge.
