By Sean Jones: Canelo Alvarez says he’s going to fight a rematch with Dmitry Bivol eventually, and he’ll use a “new guideline” & be in better condition when that time comes.
Unfortunately, boxing fans won’t get the opportunity to see Canelo (57-2-2, 39 KOs) try his new strategy against Bivol (20-0, 11 KOs) in an immediate rematch for September because he’s decided to fight a trilogy match against Gennadiy Golovkin next.
Canelo says he’s a competitive person, and he’ll give it another shot. Canelo will need to make massive improvements in his game to defeat Bivol because he was totally out of his league against the unbeaten WBA light heavyweight champion.
Bivol was the more technically sound fighter than Canelo, and he didn’t win because of his size. He was a lot smarter inside the ring and quickly defused Canelo’s simplistic dimensional offense.
“I’m going to try again for sure,” Canelo said to DAZN about his plans to fight Bivol again. “I’m a very competitive person, very persevering.
“I tried to gain weight and win this championship, but we didn’t make it. But we are going to try again. Only that I would look to be in much better physical condition for a second fight and prepare myself for the 12 rounds,” said Canelo.
It’s probably not going to work for Canelo to try and improve his physical condition because he’s not going to be able to beat Bivol, David Benavidez, or David Morrell Jr with his limited gas tank.
Canelo has had stamina issues since he was in his early 20s, and if you’re having cardio issues at that early stage, you’re not going to suddenly make vast improvements in your early 30s.
We will see the same one-sided contest in the Canelo-Bivol rematch, and it won’t matter what new guidelines Canelo uses. He’s going to get beaten again and probably worse.
If Canelo chooses to fight Benavidez, he will have the same problem he did against Bivol. Benavidez will go for the knockout and overwhelm Canelo’s shell defense with punches.
Anyone that knows anything about boxing could spot the flaws in Canelo’s game last year when he beat the super middleweight champions Billy Joe Saunders and Caleb Plant.
Canelo plodded forward behind his high guard in those fights and then would load up on single punches.
Canelo’s work rate was very, very low, and it was clear that he lacked the cardio to throw more than a handful of shots.
Luckily for Canelo, Plant, Saunders, and Avni Yildirim were easy marks and unable to take advantage of his low work rate the way more talented fighters like David Benavidez or Bivol would.
“A different strategy to the one I used with my opponents at 168 pounds,” said Canelo. “You learn from everything.
“I tried new things, and it didn’t work, but now we have a new guideline for what’s coming,” said Canelo about his rematch with Bivol.
