By Jack Tiernan: Canelo Alvarez vs. Dmitry Bivol is targeted for the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas for May 7th. Canelo (57-1-2, 39 KOs) will be moving up to 175 to challenge unbeaten WBA light heavyweight champion Bivol (19-0, 11 KOs) for his title.
The Russian Bivol, 31, has already begun training for the Canelo fight, so he should be ready by May 7th to defend his WBA light heavyweight title against the belt-hungry Mexican star.
No official announcement has been made yet regarding Canelo’s next fight on May 7th, but it’s being reported that he’s close to agreeing to a two-fight deal with Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn.
The second fight of the deal is a trilogy match for Canelo against Gennadiy Golovkin on September 17th.
ESPN Deportes has revealed that Canelo’s fight with Bivol will be staged at the T-Mobile Arena, a favorite haunt for the Mexican star.
It’s fair to say that Canelo has been very, very lucky when it comes to the scoring of his fights that have taken place at the venue.
Staging the important fight with Bivol at the T-Mobile would mark the sixth time Canelo fought at that venue during his career. The previous times that Canelo fought at the T-Mobile were against these fighters:
- Gennadiy Golovkin – 2017 & 2018
- Amir Khan
- Erislandy Lara
- Daniel Jacobs
- Julio Cesar Chavez Jr
Three of Canelo’s fights at the T-Mobile have resulted in controversial decisions. Of course, that doesn’t necessarily mean that Canelo’s bout with Bivol will have a tainted result. Still, it is interesting to note intrigue has been part of the Mexican star’s history when fighting at this venue.
It’s still not a done deal that Canelo will be facing Bivol next in May, as he needs to sign for the two-fight deal from Matchroom.
If Canelo successfully beats Bivol, he’ll have three more belts to capture before claiming the undisputed spot at 175. Before he can start on that venue, he’ll be returning to the 168-lb division to face Gennadiy Golovkin on September 17th.
“Sources indicated that they continue to define details in this regard, and one of them is that the favorite venue to host the event on May 7 is the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas,” reporters ESPN Deportes.
Beating Bivol will be difficult because he’s a big fighter with excellent boxing skills, and he’s not going to fall apart mentally like Canelo’s last opponent Caleb Plant.
In the ninth round, Plant embarrassingly started asking Canelo for compliments in their fight last November. It was disturbing to watch. Bivol won’t go to pieces the way Plant did and start asking for reassurance to boost his ego.
Assuming we don’t get another controversial result at the T-Mobile Arena, Canelo will need to raise his game from what we’ve seen from him against the British champions that he’s been feasting on since 2018.
Canelo has had it pretty easy picking off the weak champions Billy Joe Saunders, Callum Smith, Caleb Plant, and Rocky Fielding. Bivol is a lot better than those fighters technically, and he’s not going to make the same mistakes as they did.
For example, Saunders spent the entire fight leaning forward with his hands hanging down by his waist, begging Canelo to hit him with uppercuts.
When Canelo finally obliged Saunders in the eighth, he fractured his right orbital bone, resulting in him quitting on his stool after the round ended.
Callum Smith fought with his back against the ropes the entire 12 round fight with Canelo in 2020, looking like a glorified sparring partner. There were no words to describe how poor Smith looked in that fight, as he looked nothing like a world champion.
