By Dan Ambrose: Some boxing fans believe Canelo Alvarez is intentionally dragging out the Dmitry Bivol rematch hoping that he loses to Artur Beterbiev.
Canelo will take a tune-up fight in May on pay-per-view, make good money, and then either face Bivol next September or fight someone else that isn’t a threat.
The belief is that if Canelo drags out the rematch long enough, Bivol will eventually get beaten by IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Beterbiev (18-0, 18 KOs), and that, in turn, will get the Mexican star permanently off the hook.
It’s a smart way for Canelo to escape the rematch with Bivol and keep his career afloat for a little while longer. The money will keep flowing for Canelo if he can delay the rematch with Bivol for as long as possible.
If Canelo can drag it out for another year or two, that’s a lot of green that he’ll bring in from pay-per-view in easy fights against over-matched fodder level opponents like John Ryder, Zach Parker, and Edgar Berlanga at 168.
Unfortunately, Canelo isn’t going to keep his money-making machine going for much longer because the wolves are circling him, sensing weakness, and they’re ready to tear him apart.
Even if Canelo avoids fighting Bivol again by giving excuses, David Benavidez & David Morrell are likely going to beat him. Those guys will do a number on Canelo just as badly as Bivol did, and perhaps even worse because they’re not going to stay in first gear as he did.
Canelo already ducked the rematch with Bivol by choosing to fight Gennadiy Golovkin last September. The excuse given at the time was that DAZN wanted to see Canelo fight Golovkin in the trilogy match, but that explanation didn’t fly with a lot of boxing fans.
They just saw it as a case of Canelo avoiding Bivol, knowing that he’ll lose to him.
Unfortunately, Canelo is going to have to fight Bivol at some point because if he doesn’t, the fans are going to expect him to face Benavidez and Morrell.
Losing to those guys won’t give the built-in excuse Canelo has for getting whipped by the light heavyweight Bivol. In other words, Canelo can’t say to his fans that the reason he was beaten by Benavidez & Morrell is that he was fighting outside of his weight class.
https://youtu.be/7JOGt7bIvek?t=3