By Jim Maltzman: Dimitry Bivol will be ready to face Canelo Alvarez on September 18th, says his manager Vadim Kornilov. The only thing According to Lance Pugmire, Bivol (18-0, 11 KOs) wants to know if he needs to start taking weight off now to face Canelo (56-1-2, 38 KOs) at 168 lbs.
Many fans assumed that Canelo would move up to 175 to challenge Bivol for his WBA World 175-lb title, but it sounds like the Russian fighter isn’t sure about the weight. If it’s at 168, Bivol will come down seven pounds.
If the fight with Canelo gets made, Bivol would be the replacement for the Mexican star after his negotiations with IBF super middleweight champion Caleb Plant stalled out this week over contractual issues.
Bivol’s promoter Eddie Hearn is working on putting the fight together with Canelo, says Pugmire.
Bivol up for the challenge to face Canelo
“Told that Eddie Hearn working to broker the deal. ‘I’m always up for a challenge and fighting the pound-for-pound best champion is a challenge I would be motivated for,’ Dimitry Bivol
said in a prepared statement relayed by [manager Vadim] Kornilov,” said Lance Pugmire @pugboxing.
“Just spoke to Dimitry Bivol manager Vadim Kornilov, who told me Bivol can be ready to fight Canelo Sept. 18 but needs to know if cutting to 168 pounds ‘sooner rather than later,'” said Pugmire.
Taking weight off to get down to 168 reportedly isn’t an ordeal for Bivol, who isn’t someone that packs on a lot of weight in between fights. If Canelo prefers to fight at 168, Bivol can accommodate his wishes.
Bivol recently emerged from a year and a half layoff to defeat challenger Craig Richards by a closer than anticipated 12 round unanimous decision last May.
That was one of Bivol’s least impressive performances of his career, as he looked ring rusty, hesitant to let his hands go, and overly cautious.
Most would agree that Bivol made the fight with Richards harder than it should have been by not going on the attack to take him out of the fight.
By hanging back, Bivol allowed Richards to gain confidence and win rounds in the second half of the contest.
Canelo unable to negotiate fight with Plant
The negotiations between Canelo and Plant are now 100% dead, says Mike Coppinger. Canelo’s team tried to put a fight together with Plant, but it was undoable. Plant reportedly would have received $10 million and Canelo $40 million for the fight.
The fight would have been shown on FOX PPV on September 18th. With Canelo possibly facing Bivol, that’s a match that will likely be shown on DAZN, which frees the Mexican star up from having to market it.
If Canelo had fought Plant, they would have had to work hard promoting the fight with many interviews, and it’s unclear whether they would have been able to draw enough interest for the event to bring in a lot of PPV buys. Plant isn’t popular, and his personality is somewhat reserved.
The emotionless way that Plant talks might have made things difficult to get fans motivated to buy the fight.
Many boxing fans on social media are pleased that Canelo has chosen to fight Bivol over Plant, as they’re excited at the thought of him facing Caleb.
In the eyes of many boxing fans, plant isn’t viewed as a high-level fighter, and they felt that he didn’t deserve to be paid $10 million for a fight against Canelo.
The fans point out that Plant’s resume is weak from top to bottom and that he hadn’t accepted a challenge from former two-time WBC 168-lb champion David Benavidez when he called him out.
Earlier Thursday, Hearn still expressed hope that the Canelo vs. Plant fight could be salvaged for September 18th. But according to reports, the situation is untenable, and the two fighters are going their separate ways.