By Craig Page: Former four division world champion Roberto Duran says the mistakes that superstar Canelo Alvarez made in his loss to Dmitry Bivol last May can be corrected.
Duran says he’s “surprised” that Canelo hasn’t already made the rematch with Bivol (21-0, 11 KOs) after losing to him by a 12 round unanimous decision earlier this year on May 7th. Roberto says he would have done it if he’d lost.
Instead of Canelo talking an immediate rematch with Bivol, as he’d said he would do, he chose to play it safe, fighting the 40-year-old past his best Gennadiy Golovkin last September. Many boxing fans saw that as a sign that Canelo was afraid of Bivol and wracked with self-doubt.
“It’s strange that it [the rematch] hasn’t been done so far. That fight should have been made,” said Roberto Duran to DAZN Boxing Show about Canelo Alvarez not having made a rematch with Dmitry Bivol.
“Canelo didn’t know how to get inside a big person, and that can be corrected.
‘The Hands of Stone’ Duran (103-16, 70 KOs) says Canelo (58-2-2, 39 KOs) must spar with bigger fighters and learn how to get inside on them to deliver his shots.
Against Bivol, Canelo could not get at close range to land, and surprisingly, he made no adjustments during the fight.
Duran isn’t saying whether the 32-year-old Canelo should fire his trainer Eddy Reynoso in favor of a trainer that could help fix his flaws.
The fact that Canelo appeared completely unprepared for Bivol’s fighting style and made no adjustments during the fight suggests that Reynoso didn’t understand how to deal with the Russian fighter.
Canelo has the money to bring Duran into his camp as a second coach to help him, and it might be a good idea unless he wants to go with one of the popular trainers in the game.
“He can correct his mistakes. If it’s difficult [to make corrections after losses], then you have to have pride and shame,” said Duran about Canelo.
“If a guy beat me, I always wanted a rematch. If I were Canelo, I would have wanted it already. I would have talked to his manager, asked him to put him in heavier sparring partners who would box him, that they wouldn’t let him in so that he could develop his way of fighting.”
