Eddie Hearn wants Canelo to fight Golovkin, then Bivol

By Boxing News - 05/11/2022 - Comments

By Barry Holbrook: Eddie Hearn says he likes the idea of Canelo Alvarez facing Gennadiy Golovkin next and then rematching Dmitry Bivol after that.

However, he says Canelo and his trainer/manager Eddy Reynoso believe they can defeat Bivol (20-0, 11 KOs) in the rematch, so they may choose to go in that direction.

Indeed, with the judges scoring last Saturday’s Canelo-Bivol fight with an identical 115-113 score, you’d have to argue in favor of Canelo getting the victory in the rematch if he makes minor tweaks to his game.

It does make sense for Canelo to fight Golovkin (42-1-1, 41 KOs) in September, though, because if he doesn’t, someone else may defeat the aging champion.

What we saw in the 40-year-old Golovkin’s last fight against Ryota Murata is a fighter that would be at risk against any of the top five contenders in the 160-lb weight class.

If Canelo decides on fighting Bivol in an immediate rematch in September, there’s a chance that Golovkin will lose his next fight while waiting to face the Mexican star.

“Now you look at it like, he’s an underdog going into that rematch,” said Eddie Hearn to iFL TV about Canelo Alvarez if he chooses to face Dmitry Bivol in a rematch.

“So, two back-to-back defeats [is quite possible],” Hearn continued. “He certainly realizes 168 is his weight class, and he knew that originally. But he also wants to rematch Dmitry Bivol, but I think the move may be to fight Gennadiy Golovkin and then Dmitry Bivol,” Hearn said.

If Hearn can convince Canelo to take the fight with Golovkin next in September, he’ll be doing both fighters a great service because both could lose. Their trilogy fight won’t have as much meaning if Canelo gets beaten in consecutive fights by Bivol.

Likewise, if Golovkin is beaten by Chris Eubank Jr., Jaime Munguia or Esquiva Falcao in his next fight, that would take away a lot of the interest in a trilogy match with Canelo.

“Saul & Eddy [Reynoso], they believe they can beat Dmitry Bivol, and if they believe they can beat him, there’s a very good chance they’ll take that challenge again next,” said Hearn.

“Interesting comments from Dmitry Bivol, saying he could move to 168 and rematch him [Canelo] for the undisputed.

“Dmitry Bivol took the Canelo fight for greatness, but he also wants to unify world championships, to be undisputed himself. Obviously, there’s the Beterbiev fight, which isn’t available in the very near future. That could happen in December, the undisputed fight between those two [Beterbiev & Bivol].

“Also, he [Bivol] could move to 168 and do the rematch for the undisputed. I also think Canelo wouldn’t want to fight him at 168. I’m going to catch up to him this week and plan what’s next.

“He’s still the biggest star in boxing and in America, but he got beat by a good world champion who boxed perfectly on the night,” said Hearn.

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