By Sean Jones: Dmitry Bivol looked like a caged lion on Thursday during the final press conference when he was staring across at his prey, Canelo Alvarez, when the two stood for their face-off ahead of Saturday’s bout at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Canelo had a look of fear on his face during the face-off, and you couldn’t miss it no matter how hard you tried.
It’s been there for weeks now, and one can tell that the Mexican star has some confusion & self-doubt in his mind about what he’s gotten himself into by taking the fight with Bivol.
To be sure, Canelo will stick it out until the bitter end like a good trooper, but he realizes that he stepped into it this time by choosing Bivol.
If you had any doubts whether WBA light heavyweight champion Bivol (19-0, 11 KOs) means business, they were answered during his face-off with Canelo.
Bivol had a look to him like he was staring at his food for Saturday, and he can’t wait to tear him apart inside the ring. Sean Jones isn’t sure whether Canelo and his trainer/manager Eddy Reynoso know what they’ve gotten themselves into.
They may live to regret their decision to take on the unbeaten Russian talent Bivol instead of picking off a more accessible game for the 175-lb weight class.
Eddie Hearn: “Dmitry, you’re up against it this weekend against a great champion on Cinco de Mayo weekend; the atmosphere is going to be incredible,” said Eddie Hearn to Bivol.
“I know from working with the team, that this is the moment you’ve been waiting for your entire career,” Hearn continued. “Winning the world championship was a great achievement, but I’ve always known that you wanted to go down in history as one of the greats of the sport.
“You have your moment, you have your opportunity on Saturday night,” said Hearn.
Dmitry Bivol: “Yes, of course, I’m glad I got my opportunity. I asked my team for many, many years that I want to fight against the best guys from the light heavyweight division to super middleweight.
“Now, I got this fight, and I want to say, thank you, Eddie, for making this fight. I’m glad and I’m focused on May 7th now. I hope we make a great fight for boxing fans, and I believe in me. I had a long trip to this moment, and now I have to do my job,” said Bivol.
Hearn: “I know in the past, we’ve talked about unification fights with Sergey Kovalev and Beterbiev, and you’ve been chasing all those fights for years. Now you come in against the pound-for-pound, the greatest fighter in boxing [Canelo]. You truly believe that you can be victorious and cement your name in the pound-for-pound king of boxing this weekend.”
Hearn went overboard by calling Canelo the “greatest fighter in boxing.” That distinction should be saved for Terence Crawford or Shakur Stevenson because they’re arguably the most talented in boxing.
