Andre Ward WARNS Canelo Alvarez: Stay away from Beterbiev & Bivol at 175

By Boxing News - 12/01/2019 - Comments

By Sean Jones: Andre ‘SOG’ Ward says Saul Canelo Alvarez needs to STAY AWAY from 175-lb champions Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol following his win over WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev on November 2 . Canelo beat Kovalev by an 11th round knockout to become a four division world champion. Unlike the Kovalev fight, which was a calculated risk, Beterbiev would be a stupid risk for Canelo, according to Ward.

Beterbiev’s body punching would make it tough on Canelo

With the body punching ability and the inside game that Beterbiev possesses, he would likely have Canelo in distress from the earliest moments if he makes the mistake of fighting him. Beterbiev is like BETTER version of Gennadiy Golovkin. He’s bigger, stronger and a much better inside fighter than GGG. Beterbiev is a next level fighter than GGG, and Canelo would virtually no options against him.

Beterbiev said it himself after his last fight, ‘I don’t need judges.‘  With Beterbiev’s perfect 100% knockout record, he’s someone that could fight Canelo at his favorite venue at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, and not worry about being on the receiving end of a controversial decision.

Ward has already made it clear this month that he WON’T be coming out of retirement to fight Canelo or anybody. As far as the 34-year-old former two division world champion Ward is concerned, he finished his boxing career in 2017, and he won’t be coming back.

Alvarez vacates WBA 168-lb title and rules out Golovkin trilogy fight

Canelo (53-1-2, 36 KOs) hasn’t revealed his plans yet for his next fight. However, this week, Canelo vacated his WBA ‘regular’ super middleweight title, and that’s a hint that he might bother returning to 168.

At the same time, Canelo ruled out a third fight with Gennadiy Golovkin, saying he’s NEVER fight him ever again. By saying he’s done with Golovkin, that removes the possibility of Canelo facing the second most popular fighter at 160.

Canelo needs to stay away from Beterbiev & Bivol

“He sounds like he’s trying to campaign at light heavy,” said Ward about Canelo. “He’d better leave those guys alone, and Canelo better leave [Artur] Beterbiev] and [Dmitry] Bivol alone too. Stay away from both of those guys,” said Ward in giving Canelo some sound advice.

IBF/WBC light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev (15-0, 15 KOs) is the guy that boxing fan are daring Canelo to fight, as he’s clearly the #1 fighter in the 175-lb division.  Canelo should have fought Beterbiev if he wanted to prove to the fans that he’s brave, and willing to fight the best.

Rather than facing Beterbiev, Canelo picked 36-year-old Kovalev, and went with arguably the weakest of the four champions.

These were the four champions at 175 that Canelo had to pick from:

  • Artur Beterbiev – IBF/WBC
  • Dmitry Bivol – WBA [Super World]
  • Jean Pascal – WBA ‘regular’
  • Sergey Kovalev – WBO

Bringing up the rear was Kovalev, and Canelo picked him of the bunch in what was interpreted by hardcore boxing fast as a CHERRY-PICK move.

Kovalev took the cash out fight against Canelo

“I said take the fight now with Canelo. Don’t mess with anybody else at 175. This is a cash out fight,” said Ward last Saturday night in remembering the advice that he had for Kovalev after his win over Anthony Yarde last August. “I said it on air. After he fought Yarde, I said, ‘Take the money, bro.’ I said, ‘this [Canelo] is a cash out fight.’ Did he look like ‘The Krusher’?” said Ward when asked how Kovalev looked to him.

It goes without saying that Kovalev took the cash out fight against Canelo Alvarez, because he could have fought a unification against Bivol or Beterbiev. Kovalev took the reported $12.5 million cash out fight against Canelo, and it’s a good thing he did. Had Kovalev taken on the two unbeaten Russian fighters Bivol and Beterbiev, he likely would have been knocked out by both of them.

Kovalev’s fight against Anthony Yarde last August showed how over-the-hill he is, as he had a HARD time beating a fighter with virtually NO experience against a quality opponent. He made Yarde look better than he actually is. The fans will see Yarde’s limits as a fighter in the future when he comes up against a good light heavyweight that’s not old, and on his last legs.

Ward: Canelo realized it was harder than he thought

“I can’t speak for Canelo, I don’t know,” said Ward when asked who Canelo should fight next.”I think Canelo realized it was a lot harder than he thought. That weight. Even though Kovalev wasn’t at his best, he still had something in the tank. It just wasn’t a lot left.

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“So I think if Canelo could have gotten Kovalev out of their earlier, he would have. If I’m him [Kovalev], I’m thinking about taking the check and packing it in. Maybe taking one farewell in Russia, and then going home,” said Ward.

The combination of size, mobility and the boxing ability of Kovalev gave the 5’8″ Canelo fits in the first 10 rounds. Canelo didn’t know what to do against Kovalev until the Russian fighter gassed out in the 11th round, and basically that the only reason he won.

If this had been the 2o13 version of Kovalev, Canelo wold have likely been destroyed in the same way Nathan Cleverly was. Kovalev was a good fighter before he got old. He was never in the same league as Beterbiev or Bivol, but he was still an excellent fighter, and more than capable of beating a guy like Canelo. Kovalev would have taken care of Canelo in the same manner he did with Jean Pascal in his two stoppage wins over him.