Promoter Oscar De La Hoya says Canelo Alvarez will need to change his fighting style if he’s to defeat WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol in their potential rematch next May.
De La Hoya feels that Canelo (59-2-2, 39 KOs) must throw combinations and not single punches in the rematch with Bivol (20-0, 11 KOs) because last May, the Mexican star was throwing only single shots.
Besides wanting Canelo, 32, to throw combinations, De La Hoya says he needs to change trainers, which means he needs to fire his long-time coach Eddy Reynoso & look for new blood. Will Canelo be willing to fire Reynoso? Probably not.
If Canelo is lucky, he won’t have to fight Bivol again because he has a title defense against Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez (44-0, 30 KOs) next month on November 5th on DAZN at the Etihad Arena, Abu Dhabi.
Canelo has already said that if Bivol loses to Ramirez, he won’t bother fighting him again. In other words, Canelo will walk away without attempting to avenge his loss to Bivol from last May.
It would be perceived as a weak move if Canelo chooses to do that, but perhaps he’s not interested in fighting him anyway and is just looking for any excuse.
“Yeah, he beat him already, but in this case, money talks,” said Oscar De La Hoya to Fighthype about a rematch between Canelo Alvarez and Dmitry Bivol next May.
“I strongly feel that Canelo has to change his style. He will not beat Bivol with that same style. Maybe he has to change trainers,” said De La Hoya about Canelo potentially needing to dump trainer Eddy Reynoso.
“Everybody changes trainers; everybody gets better. Canelo cannot beat Bivol with that style. I’m not saying Canelo is not great. He’s a great fighter, but he can’t beat Bivol with that same style of being flat-footed. It’s impossible.
“I can see Bivol trying to stick & move with how he did with Canelo, but you have to keep in mind that Zurdo is a much bigger guy. He’s stronger guy. He’s going to be aggressive and go in there and throw more punches in punches.
“One thing that Canelo did wrong was he was throwing one punch at a time, trying to knock him out. Zurdo will throw four, five, six, and seven punches and smother Bivol. Let’s just hope that the ring is small,” said De La Hoya.
