Does Canelo have a chance against Bivol in rematch in September?

By Jeff Sorby - 05/07/2023 - Comments

Canelo Alvarez will now be facing WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol in a rematch following his victory over John Ryder last Saturday night.

The consensus from fans is the popular Mexican star Canelo (59-2-2, 39 KOs) doesn’t have much of a chance of defeating the highly technical Bivol (21-0, 11 KOs).

Their previous fight was a one-sided match, with Bivol taking advantage of his size, stamina, and combination punching to easily outbox Canelo by a twelve round unanimous decision in a bout that appeared a lot more one-sided than the strange 115-113 x 3 scores turned in by the three Nevada judges on duty that night for the Canelo-Bivol fight.

Unfortunately, Canelo’s performance last Saturday night against Ryder showed that he hadn’t fixed his stamina problems, nor did he improve his inability to throw combinations.

In both of these areas, Canelo would need significant improvements to have a chance of beating Bivol, but if anything, he looked worse last night than he did a year ago.

People would prefer to watch Canelo defend his undisputed super middleweight championship against David Benavidez because at least there’s an unknown about that fight.

Benavidez looked less than impressive in his fight against Caleb Plant last March, and many fans now believe that Canelo might still have enough left in the tank to defeat him.

Provided Canelo and Bivol can agree on the weight for the fight, they’ll be fighting in September in Las Vegas. Remembering how one-sided his fight with Canelo was, Bivol says he wants the rematch at 168 so that he can capture his undisputed super middleweight championship.

Whether Canelo and Bivol can agree on the weight for the rematch remains to be seen. If the fight doesn’t get made, Canelo gave no hints about who he would fight next, saying, “We’ll see.” The fact that wouldn’t mention Benavidez by name after the fight last Saturday isn’t a good sign.

“I’m here with the four belts,” Canelo told DAZN Boxing after his win over Ryder. “Everybody knows we want Bivol, the rematch with Bivol,” Alvarez said when asked who he wants next.

“If the fight with Bivol doesn’t happen, then we’ll see. I’m able to fight everybody.”

Yeah,  same rules, same terms, same everything because I just want it in that way,” said Canelo.

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