By Jim Calfa: Canelo Alvarez is working on his mobility in preparing for his trilogy fight against Gennadiy Golovkin on September 17th.
The former four-division world champion Canelo (57-2-2, 39 KOs) is working on his poor mobility because his last opponent, WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol utilized his quick footwork to defeat him two months ago on May 7th.
Like when Canelo lost to Floyd Mayweather Jr, he is seemingly adding the tools that Bivol used against him to add to his armament in a retooling process. If Canelo can copy Bivol’s skills to a tee, he’s going to be a very difficult fighter for anyone to beat at 168 or 175.
What makes Canelo so good is his ability to learn & retool his game after tough fights where his opponents expose defects in his armament.
Canelo is learning quickly, adapting, and developing a whole new set of skills, and will return on September 17th against the 40-year-old Golovkin. Canelo’s mobility, stamina, and tactics will change.
Whether Canelo can adequately use the things that Bivol employed to defeat him against Golovkin remains to be seen. Bivol (20-0, 11 KOs) threw sustained combinations, moved superbly, blocked punches, and never showed any fatigue.
Canelo Alvarez putting his hand speed and head movement on display in training for the Gennady Golovkin trilogy fight on Sept 17th…
[🎥 @CaneloTeam] pic.twitter.com/cVkNicD9Hd
— Michael Benson (@MichaelBensonn) July 22, 2022
Indeed, Bivol appeared to be in first gear through most of the 12-round contest with Canelo, and only rarely did he shift to second and third gear.
In the fifth round, Bivol shifted to third gear when he unloaded on Canelo with a seven-punch combination that had the Mexican star looking shaky.
It’s fair to say that if Bivol had thrown another five or six more punches, the referee would have had to step in and stop it because Canelo was helpless against the ropes.
Canelo will have the ideal opponent in front of him on September 17th to try out his new skills, given that the 40-year-old Golovkin is showing signs of age, inactivity & ring war after a long 16-year career.
It won’t be as tricky for Canelo to utilize his new Bivol-esque skills on the old-timer Golovkin as it would if he had stuck with his original plan of going straight into the rematch with Bivol.
It’s believed that Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn was the one that talked Canelo out of taking the Bivol rematch because he likely realized that if he lost that fight, it would have tarnished the trilogy match with Golovkin.
The only fight the fans would have wanted to see that that point would have been a trilogy match with Bivol, which would have the Mexican star’s career hanging by a thread.
Hearn will likely talk Canelo out of fighting Bivol next year and steer him towards safer waters against the lesser fighters at 168 like John Ryder. That’s a guy that Hearn is keen to have Canelo fight for obvious reasons.
