By Sean Jones: Eddie Hearn has concerns about whether Canelo Alvarez has lost his normally high self-confidence following his defeat at the hands of Dmitry Bivol on May 7th.
The self-confidence that Canelo once had might be gone for good after the humiliation he suffered at the hands of the talented Bivol (20-0, 11 KOs).
Now the question is, does Canelo show bravery by taking on Bivol again, or does he hoist the white flag of surrender and run from the battlefield rather than be shelled to pieces for a second time.
Hearn feels that Canelo has two risky options for his next fight on September 17th a rematch with Bivol or a trilogy against Gennadiy Golovkin.
Those are both fights that Canelo (57-2-2, 39 KOs) can easily lose, especially given his poor stamina, low work rate, and complete emphasis on throwing exclusively power punches. Canelo had the looks of someone that has been sheltered for too many years, hiding in a foxhole from talented fighters like David Benavidez, Demetrius Andrade, Golovkin, David Morrell Jr, Bivol & Artur Beterbiev.
Is Canelo’s confidence shattered?
Whatever technical skills that Canelo, 31, once had, they’ve deteriorated from a combination of aging & fighting lackluster opposition in the last four years.
This is what happens when you get an athlete that chooses to focus on fighting against paper champions and washed-up guys. Sean Jones isn’t surprised in the least at how badly Canelo’s game has fallen off in the last three years. I saw this coming a mile away.
When you get accustomed to fighting sublevel fighters like Billy Joe Saunders, Rocky Fielding, Callum Smith, Caleb Plant & Avni Yildirim, it’s too much of a shock to your system when you return to fighting elite.
“All the pressure right now is actually heaped on Canelo Alvarez,” said Eddie Hearn to the DAZN Boxing Show about the risks involved with Canelo Alvarez of potentially losing to Dmitry Bivol in a rematch or getting beaten by Gennadiy Golovkin in their trilogy match.
“You don’t know what defeat is going to do to a man like that,” Hearn continued about Canelo. “We know he suffered a loss nine years ago against Floyd Mayweather [in 2013].
“He was a young man then. Can he bounce back? Is he affected by that? Is his confidence gone?”
Sean Jones sees Canelo’s confidence as having abandoned him completely, and we’ll see that proven loud & clear when the Mexican elects to swerve the rematch with Bivol. When Canelo avoids fighting Bivol again, he’ll prove that he’s lost his nerve.
“I would probably go GGG, Dmitry Bivol,” said Hearn about the direction he wants Canelo to go in. “That’s what I would probably do, and we’d give Dmitry Bivol a big fight in September or October. Whether that’s Buatsi – Richards winner, Callum Smith, or [Gilberto] Ramirez. But the [Canelo vs. Bivol] rematch is a mega-fight,” said Hearn.
Bivol isn’t going to do Hearn any favors by fighting Buatsi, Richards, Callum Smith, or Gilberto.
