By Max Schram: Boxing great Bernard Hopkins predicts a smashing performance from superstar Canelo Alvarez this Saturday night, May 7th, when he takes on WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
DAZN pay-per-view will be streaming the Canelo vs. Bivol fight live this Saturday at 8:00 p.m. ET. The price for non-DAZN subscribers is $79.99 and $59.99 for subscribers.
Based on Hopkins’ view of the Canelo-Bivol fight, fans might as well save their money because Canelo’s got this one, and he could be right.
“He smashes him,” said Bernard Hopkins to Fight Hub TV, with his view of Canelo obliterating WBA light heavyweight champion Bivol this Saturday. “He [Canelo] smashes him.”
If Hopkins is correct, this is another example of Canelo and his trainer/manager Eddy Reynoso picking a champion that is arguably the weakest link among the belt holders at 175.
Most boxing fans would likely argue that IBF/WBC light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev (17-0, 17 KOs) is Canelo’s biggest threat 175, followed closely by WBO champion Joe Smith Jr.
By Canelo selecting the 31-year-old Bivol, he’s repeating the same selection pattern for the last time he moved up to 175 to challenge for a world title.
In 2019, Canelo picked 36-year-old Sergey Kovalev, a fighter that looked like he was on his last legs at the time after having lost twice to Andre Ward and had been recently knocked out by Eleider Alvarez.
Bivol (19-0, 11 KOs) looked tired and slow, laboring to wins in his last two fights against Umar Salamov and Craig Richards.
The unbeaten Bivol was fortunate to get the victory over ‘Spider’ Richards, winning a 12-round unanimous decision by this set of scores: 115-114, 115-113, and 118-110.
Afterward, more than a few boxing fans felt that the 32-year-old Richards should have gotten the nod from the judges.
Bivol looked exhausted from the fifth round, shelling up for long periods and only throwing sporadic punches.
When Bivol would throw shots, they lacked power, and he would immediately cover-up, letting Richards bombard him.
The way Bivol fought was similar to how Callum Smith shelled up against Canelo and was riddled with shots for 12 one-sided rounds.
“Are people really excited? Yeah, to see Canelo whether he stays mentally and achieves being on top like he has been. That’s all we’re looking for, people that know,” said Bernard, on what Bivol brings to the table in terms of fan interest.
“If Canelo didn’t have the attributes that he has, yes, but that’s not the case. It’s what Canelo wants to do. It’s not what he’s [Bivol] going to do,” said Bernard about Bivol’s natural size & power not helping him for Saturday’s fight.
“He smashes him,” said Bernard about what Canelo would do against former two-time WBC 168-lb champion David Benavidez when or if they ever fight.
“To me, that’s Canelo’s biggest challenge,” Bernard said of Jermall Charlo.
If Charlo wins his two fights in 2022, we could see him and Canelo battle it out next year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKfNKVjgulM&t=83s