By Jim Maltzman: Canelo Alvarez will be challenging Dmitry Bivol for his WBA light heavyweight title at a catchweight between 168 and 175 at still be determined date. Team Bivol is still waiting for confirmation from Alvarez’s management at what catchweight they want the fight.
If Canelo wants full credit for a victory over Bivol, he needs to move up to 175 like the old school fighters and try to take his WBA title the old-fashioned way without gaming the system.
Finding the right catchweight amount that will work for Canelo (56-1-2, 38 KOs) and Bivol is important because both fighters will be at a disadvantage if it’s slanted too far one way or the other.
If Canelo were to move up the full seven pounds to 175, he would be giving up some size to the naturally bigger Bivol. Putting the extra weight on would take more time for Canelo, which is why the date for the fight may need to be moved.
The September 18th is the date that Canelo had planned to fight on, may need to be moved to help accommodate Bivol (18-0, 11 KOs) due to the
Bivol needs time to cut weight to whatever the agreed-upon catchweight number is. If Canelo, 31, wants to use his A-side muscle, he’ll insist on forcing Bivol to come down as low as possible to drain him a little to get an edge.
170 lbs would likely be as low as Canelo could ask for without him getting criticized by the boxing public.
If the catchweight is that low, Canelo won’t receive credit for a win over Bivol, and he’ll be seen as someone that had to drain his opponent to win.
Danny Jacobs and Sergey Kovalev were two fighters that had issues with the rehydration limit they had to deal with in their fights with Canelo.
Update on @canelo: The Dmitry Bivol camp is waiting for confirmation from the four-division champion on a catch-weight bout between 168 and 175 pounds. “Might have to move the date for Bivol to have enough time to travel, acclimate and make weight,” Bivol side says.
— Lance Pugmire (@pugboxing) August 4, 2021
It would be a good move on Canelo’s part if he chose to schedule the fight with Bivol in October or November and then fight him at the normal 175-lb weight for the light heavyweight division.
If Canelo schedules the Bivol fight in November, he would have time to add the muscle weight that he needs to fight at 175 without asking him to drain down.
Canelo obviously was unhappy when Floyd Mayweather Jr had him agree to a 154-lb catchweight in their fight in 2013.
Alvarez was bitter about the weight, and he only had to lose two lbs from 154, which was the division he was fighting in at the time. Canelo was only 22 at the time, so it wasn’t as hard as it would be if he were 30 like Bivol.
Bivol said that he would be willing to come down to 168 for the fight, but for the sake of fairness, it would be better if there was a catchweight of 172.
If Bivol or Canelo needs to move the fight date from September 18th to October or November, it will upset many boxing fans. They want to see Canelo fight on the Mexican Independence Day holiday weekend.