Dmitry Bivol says he believes he can KO Canelo Alvarez this Saturday night if he catches him with a good shot while he’s fighting aggressively.
WBA light heavyweight champion Bivol (19-0, 11 KOs) states that if he hurts Canelo (57-1-2, 39 KOs), he’ll try and finish him off in their main event fight on DAZN PPV at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Canelo and his management are arguably looking past Bivol, having already set up a fight against Gennadiy Golovkin on September 17th.
Bivol says he’s not upset about Canelo having already planned his next fight because he believes he can change those plans by beating the Mexican star.
If Canelo loses to Bivol, his trilogy fight with Golovkin will be off, and he’ll need to decide whether he wants to face the Russian fighter in an immediate rematch or go in another direction.
“I don’t feel too much pressure. Of course, pressure like every time but not too much,” said Dmitry Bivol to Fight Hub TV when asked if he feels pressure ahead of Saturday’s title defense against Canelo Alvarez.
“It’s all of this, and every fighter has a unique set of these skills. I don’t know what will surprise him. I just have to do my job, and maybe all my job will surprise him.
“We had plans too. We had before plans, but these plans sometimes change, and it could be changed too,” Bivol said of Canelo’s plans of fighting Golovkin next could be altered.
If Canelo loses this fight, it would be a massive disappointment for boxing fans and likely his promoter Eddie Hearn & DAZN.
Everybody wants to see Canelo fight Golovkin again because they’ve been waiting four years for the trilogy match between those two to take place.
Canelo put himself in a tough position to get the trilogy fight by needing to defeat Bivol, who is arguably the best opponent the Mexican star will have faced since his loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2013.
Bivol is a fighter that would probably beat anyone that Canelo has faced since his fight with Mayweather, which includes Gennadiy Golovkin, Erislandy Lara, Caleb Plant, Billy Joe Saunders, Miguel Cotto, and Austin Trout.
“I’ve got my 12 rounds against Canelo. For me, it doesn’t matter what will be after. I just live until May 7th, and every time for me, every fight,” said Bivol.
“I don’t know,” Bivol said when asked how the fight with Canelo ends on Saturday. “I believe I could win. I don’t know. Why not? It’s boxing, and we both have power. Of course, if I see that I can knock him out, I will try to land my punches.
“Every time I come to the ring, I try to be ready for 12 rounds, and if I see something, I’ll try to do it, but sometimes it does not happen. This is the same,” said Bivol.
