By Jim Calfa: Dmitry Bivol says he already knows how to defeat Canelo Alvarez ahead of their May 7th fight at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Bivol believes he’ll win as long as he follows his game plan and doesn’t deviate from it.
The unbeaten WBA light heavyweight champion Bivol (19-0, 11 KOs) has watched the ‘Face of Boxing’ Canelo’s past fights, and he’s come up with the gameplan to mix jabbing, pressuring, and backing away to keep him from having a stationary target to load up on his shots.
If you look at Canelo’s recent opponents, they all fell apart after they stood in front of him, making it easy to hit them with his immense power shots.
Bivol, 31, isn’t going to make it easy for Canelo by standing in one place, letting him walk up and tee off with his best punches.
Canelo’s last opponent Caleb Plant performed well with the game plan that his team had for him last November. What prevented Plant from winning the fight was his stamina giving out on him in the championship rounds.
Plant (21-1, 12 KOs) would have likely won a unanimous decision if the fight had been an eight-rounder, but unfortunately, his stamina gave out on him.
Canelo took advantage of Plant once he faded, which is what he did to Billy Joe Saunders, Callum Smith, Sergey Kovalev, and Danny Jacobs.
Kovalev gives Bivol advice
“He told me not to overtrain, not to spend so much time in the gym,” said Bivol to DAZN on what Kovalev told him about how to beat Alvarez. (Canelo) He’s just a man, a boxer.
“He’s nothing more. He told me to think of him as just another opponent. Nothing more,” Bivol said during the broadcast.
“I just have to do my job, do what I do best,” said Bivol on what he needs to do for him to defeat Canelo on May 7th.
“Good jab, good movement, and sometimes more pressure, sometimes back off. Everything I know how to do. If I do it well, I’ll win, I think so,” said Bivol.
“It’s a bit different, but some people believe in Canelo in Russia,” said Bivol last Saturday night at the USC Galen Center in Los Angeles. He was told that many Mexican boxing fans wanted him to defeat Alvarez on May 7th.
Interestingly, Bivol is receiving so much support from American fans for his fight with Canelo, considering he’s not anywhere near as famous as him.
This suggests that some fans are tired of seeing the same old face of Canelo, and they want to see some new blood.
It doesn’t help that Canelo hasn’t been fighting the opposition that the U.S boxing fans have wanted him to in the last four years.
Canelo didn’t win fans by choosing to fight Billy Joe Saunders, Caleb Plant, Rocky Fielding, Avni Yildirim, and Callum Smith instead of David Benavidez and Jermall Charlo.
