By Sean Jones: Dmitry Bivol is seemingly indifferent about whether a rematch between him and Canelo Alvarez takes place in 2023.
The undefeated WBA light heavyweight champion Bivol (21-0, 11 KOs) says he wants to fight for belts, and he doesn’t want to “depend” on Canelo’s decision on whether he’ll fight him again or not.
Canelo (58-2-2, 39 KOs) is fighting next May against possibly John Ryder, according to promoter Eddie Hearn. If that fight happens, it’ll be the second time in a row that Canelo has chosen not to rematch Bivol after losing to him last May.
In recent interviews, Bivol has expressed his amusement at Canelo’s excuses for his loss. Instead of admitting that he’s not in the same league as Bivol talent-wise, Canelo says his camp wasn’t right and that he is fighting outside of his regular weight class.
Recently, Canelo revealed that he’d been fighting with a wrist injury after his win over Gennady Golovkin. He’s had the injury for a long time.
“I don’t care about it, to be honest. I don’t want to think. I don’t want to depend on his decision on who he wants to fight,” said Dmitry Bivol to iFL TV when asked if Canelo Alvarez figures in his plans for 2023.
Canelo reportedly received a bronze statue today in Mexico, celebrating his accomplishments. When you see a fighter receiving statues while their career is still going on, it can be interpreted to mean that they’re seen as nearing the end.
It would be a good idea for Bivol to get an early jump on his plans for 2023 and assume that Canelo will choose not to take the rematch next September.
Many boxing fans are already predicting that Canelo will have another reason for why he can’t fight Bivol next September, and it’s going to be forlorn at that point.
Bivol has excellent options for 2023 against these good fighters:
- Joshua Buatsi
- Dan Azeez
- David Morrell
- David Benavidez
- Jermall Charlo
It’s fair to say that those guys would jump at the chance of fighting Bivol if given a chance. The most interesting of the bunch would be Jermall Charlo (32-0, 22 KOs).
It’s not that he’s better than those fighters. On the contrary, they would likely wipe the deck with Charlo and make it easy.
With Jermall, he’d make the press conferences enjoyable, and there would be a lot of speculation about whether he’d make it through training camp without pulling out due to an injury.