Errol ‘The Truth’ Spence Jr. is picking Canelo Alvarez (57-1-2, 39 KOs) to defeat unbeaten WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol (19-0, 11 KO) by a 12 round decision in their fight on May 7th.
IBF/WBC welterweight champion Spence is one of a legion of boxing fans and fighters that believe Canelo is too good right now for even a natural 175-pounder like Bivol.
Of course, there are a lot of people like Spence basing their predictions based on how easily Canelo defeated the four super-middleweight champions to become the undisputed 168-lb champion last year.
In fairness to Bivol, the champions Canelo beat at 168 were a marginal group of fighters, mostly from the UK, short on talent, and resumes filled with domestic-level fighters rather than world-class.
These are the guys Canelo beat at 168 to become an undisputed champion:
- Caleb Plant – U.S
- Billy Joe Saunders – UK
- Callum Smith – UK
- Rocky Fielding – UK
“I got Canelo all 12,” said Errol Spence Jr to Fight Hub TV in predicting a win for him over Dmitry Bivol.
You’d have to say that Bivol is a far superior fighter to the four guys that Canelo beat to become the undisputed champion at 168.
If boxing fans are only basing their opinions on Canelo beating Bivol on how good he looked at becoming the undisputed champion at 168, they need to put things in perspective and look at the low quality of those champions. None of them were solid fighters, not one.
If Bivol had moved down in weight and fought the same 168-lb champions that Canelo did to become undisputed, he’d have beaten them all as well just as easily.
Antonio Margarito picks Canelo
“Look, I’ll say this. Canelo has shown that he’s a good fighter, and I believe he’ll win this fight [against Bivol],” said Antonio Margarito to Fighthype.
“The only thing I can say is he’s fighting in a lot of different weight classes, but he’s doing it because he knows he can against those types of fighters.
“They’re not at Canelo’s level at the moment, and, yes, he’s at a whole another level right now. He’s a good fighter. However, a lot of people are saying he should fight guys at his level and stop moving between weight classes,” said Margarito about people wanting Canelo to focus on fighting quality rather than just collecting titles for the sake of doing so.
“I could have fought fighters two or three weight classes above me if I knew they weren’t that good and that I could beat them,” Margarito continued.
“Canelo should fight [David] Benavidez, who is interested in battling him and is a good fighter. I believe he can give a good fight to Canelo. I think Canelo should stop looking for opponents in different weight classes.
“Manny Pacquiao would have beat Canelo because he was on a different level,” said Margarito.