Canelo Alvarez is still troubled about his loss to Dmitry Bivol from last year because he feels he’s a better fighter than him. Bivol outboxed Canelo the entire fight, taking advantage of his inability to make any adjustments.
Fans would have preferred for Canelo to take the rematch with Bivol for his September 30th fight instead of reaching down to the 154-lb division to use Jermell Charlo as his opponent.
Instead of Canelo being the favorite, as he is with Jermell, he would be a huge underdog against Bivol, which would create a lot more interest from fans.
If nothing else, Canelo would be showing courage by facing Bivol, as he’s heading towards a near-certain loss, and that takes bravery. Many people already see Canelo as being afraid of David Benavidez, David Morrell Jr.and Demetrius Andrade.
If Canelo had chosen Bivol as his opponent, he could temporarily shake the image of being a cherry-picker who dodges risky fights.
Canelo’s plan B, if you want to call it that, was to back up against the ropes and stay for prolonged periods, getting rifled with heavy shots from Bivol.
It was disturbing to watch because Canelo looked worse than some of Bivols’ previous opponents, like Craig Richards, Joe Smith Jr., Jean Pascal, and Lenin Castillo.
The fight was scored an identical 115-113 x 3 by all three judges, and for Canelo, it affirmed in his mind that he was the better fighter than Bivol.
If he could come close to beating Bivol while dealing with injuries, he would have no problems beating him when 100% healthy.
It would have been better for Canelo if he’d at least tried to even the score by setting up a rematch with Bivol because then he could have proven his opinion about being better than him.
Walking away from the loss was interpreted by fans as an admission by Canelo that he didn’t think he could win the rematch.
Canelo wasn’t 100% for Bivol fight
“I wasn’t 100% physically speaking, my hand wasn’t 100%, I couldn’t train 100%. A week before the fight, I suffered a rib injury during training,” said Canelo Alvarez to Hugo Sanchez Presenta, talking about his loss to Dmitry Bivol from last year in May 2022.
Alvarez just made the mistake of taking the fight against the WBA light heavyweight champion Bivol (21-0,11 KOs) while dealing with two injuries, one to his left wrist and the other being his ribs.
Boxing fans don’t believe Canelo’s excuses, as they view him as a poor loser who can’t give his opponent credit after he gets beaten.
It was the same thing with Canelo after his loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr., Blaming it on Floyd for not standing still directly in front of him so he could tee off.
“I shouldn’t have fought. That defeat is still a pain in my heart,” said Canelo about his loss to Bivol. “I still haven’t gotten over that moment. It affected me deeply because I shouldn’t have lost; I am simply better than him,” said Canelo.
