Dmitry Bivol wants Canelo Alvarez rematch at 175, not 168

By Boxing News - 05/16/2022 - Comments

By Allan Fox: Dmitry Bivol has given up on the idea of potentially moving down to 168 for the rematch with Canelo Alvarez if the Mexican star chooses to go in that direction.

WBA light heavyweight champion Bivol (20-0, 11 KOs) says he prefers to face Canelo (57-2-2, 39 KOs) back at 175 for a second fight.

It’s understandable why Bivol wants to make the rematch at 175 rather than 168, as it would be hard on his body to drain down in weight to challenge Canelo for his undisputed championship at super middleweight.

When the time came for Bivol to return to the 175-lb division to challenge for the undisputed championship against the winner of the Arthur Beterbiev vs. Joe Smith Jr. fight, he might not be 100% due to the ordeal he put his body through to get down to 168 for the rematch with Canelo.

If Canelo is as great as his boxing fans believe him to be, he should be capable of fighting Bivol again at 175, especially given how close the scores were last time.

With all three Nevada judges scoring it the same at 115-113, 115-113 and 115-113 for the Canelo-Bivol fight earlier this month on May 7th, there’s no reason for Canelo to need an additional edge by insisting the rematch take place at 168.

If Canelo throws some jabs next time, he would have a better chance of winning the rematch, and it wouldn’t need to drain Bivol by bringing him down to 168 & possibly adding a fight-weakening rehydration clause to the contract to better ensure his victory.

“If I beat Canelo again, it would be like I’m in the same place, same belt, same victory. I prefer to fight for other belts,” said Dmitry Bivol during a press conference about a rematch with Canelo Alvarez.

Canelo hasn’t said anything yet about triggering the rematch clause, and you got to figure that if he doesn’t trigger it by the start of next month in June, it means that he’s decided not to fight Bivol again.

With Canelo’s next fight date already penciled in for September 17th, he can’t wait to choose his next opponent. It would be unfair for Canelo to wait until July or August to trigger rematch clause.

“In the rematch, I can see some of the things that worked for me, and I capitalized on that and use that more to make the fight in my favor,” said Bivol on whether he believes he can knock out Canelo in the rematch.

“A fight against Gilberto Ramirez is an interesting fight for me as well, but it wouldn’t be for the first place because I would like to fight for the belts [at 175],” said Bivol.

“Maybe, he’s on the second place because he talks about me many times, and he mentioned me many times. He’s had a lot of fights. He’s got a good record, and I would like to fight him too if I couldn’t get a title fight,” said Bivol.

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