Ryan Garcia believes Canelo Alvarez’s loss to Dmitry Bivol had nothing to do with him being the smaller guy in there with him in their fight last month on May 7th.
Canelo has already turned down the rematch with Bivol for September, and it’s debatable whether he’ll face next May.
Bivol was better than Canelo in every area of his game, and arguably the most important was in his conditioning. He never got tired and looked as if he could have shifted gears and scored a knockout if he wished.
If Canelo (57-2-2, 39 KOs) is thinking about fighting WBA light heavyweight champion Bivol in a rematch, he might want to reconsider unless he’s okay with losing again.
Ryan feels that Bivol will beat Canelo again because he’s got more ability, and it has nothing to do with size.
Garcia thinks that Bivol (20-0, 11 KOs) was better than Canelo in technical skills, and he didn’t get greedy by trying to do too much. In one instance in the fifth, Bivol unloaded with a seven-punch barrage in retaliation to Canelo hitting him with a hard right hand.
At the end of that flurry, Bivol looked like he was barely breathing, and Canelo looked red-faced from having absorbed the shots. Canelo then motioned for Bivol to come forward and continue unloading on him, but he chose not to do so.
If Bivol was the type of ego-driven fighter that reacted with anger or annoyance when their opponents motioned them in, he would have resumed pummeling Canelo, and who knows what would have happened in that instance.
“It was very honorable that he got in there with a guy that was much bigger and he took that risk,” said Ryan Garcia to Fighthype about Canelo Alvarez’s defeat against Dmitry Bivol.
“I will say that I don’t think Canelo lost because the guy was bigger. I thought he lost because the guy was better technically and boxing-wise,” Ryan said about his belief that Bivol beat Canelo based on his ability, not his size.
“I just thought he fought a great fight, and he was the better man. I think he would beat him again.
“I was surprised at how calm Bivol was the whole time around, but he’s not an emotional fighter. You have to be a non-emotional fighter.
“He knew that if he just won, it would be a big statement. He didn’t have to get a knockout. He fought really well,” said Ryan about Bivol choosing not to get greedy.
“Being calm, being consistent in the gym, and carrying yourself a certain way as a champion,” said Ryan when asked what he learned from being around Canelo.
“We just had some differences. I’m a man. I don’t mind him saying whatever he had to say,” said Ryan when asked if he has any beef with Canelo after leaving Eddy Reynosos’ gym. “He said his piece, and I said mine. I hope the best for him,” said Ryan.
