Tony Bellew believes Canelo Alvarez will beat Dmitry Bivol if and when the two meet again next year or at some point in the future.
Belew feels that Canelo’s loss to Bivol (20-0, 11 KOs) last May was attributed to him having an off night rather than it being a case of the WBA light heavyweight champion having too much size, skills & stamina.
The rematch, if it does take place, will likely happen in 2023, but only if Bivol gets past his tough hurdles this year against Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez and Joshua Buatsi.
Canelo has a fight against Gennadiy Golovkin on September 17th that he must win before he can begin to think about avenging his loss next year against Bivol.
“Nobody seen it coming. I don’t care what people say, and I love the way people were angling and saying, ‘If the judges are fair, Bivol should win.’ No, stop. If you really thought Bivol was going to win, show us your bet slip,” said Tony Bellew to DAZN Boxing about Dmitry Bivol’s upset win over Canelo Alvarez last May.
“I never seen it coming, never in a million years because Bivol had never shown me anything remotely close to the night he beat Canelo. He’d been in a close fight with Craig Richards, and he’d underperformed on various occasions. A couple of times in Monaco as well.
“I draw back to some of the great nights Canelo has had. I look at the GGG fight. I always thought with Canelo, ‘How are you going to beat him?’ You’re not going to chin him because nobody punches harder with a single punch than GGG. He took GGG’s best right hand on the chin.
“I thought, ‘Okay, at light heavyweight, he took Kovalev’s best shots on the chin, and they didn’t deter him.’ They may have kept him honest on the outside, but they still didn’t deter him. He got to Kovalev in the end.
“I don’t know. We’ll see, but it’s all about the [Bivol] rematch. I think he [Canelo] wants it, but does he need it? So there’s wanting something and needing something. Yes, he’s going to want to prove everyone wrong. Yes, he can do it, but does he actually need to do that?
“I actually don’t think he does to secure his resume. He’s got a great resume. He’s got an unbelievable legacy, but I think he’s going to want to do it. I actually do think he’ll beat Bivol in the rematch. I don’t know why, but I just think he’s going to do it.
“I just think seeing the styles he’s overcome and the different sizes of the people he’s overcome, I just think he had an off night. Even great fighters have off nights,” said Bellew.
