By Craig Daly: Oscar De La Hoya has no qualms about saying that he believes with the way Canelo Alvarez fights, he will “never beat” Dmitry Bivol, regardless of whether they battle at 168 or 175.
De La Hoya is a straight-shooter and isn’t going to give false hope to Canelo to try and curry favor by flattering the Mexican star in hopes of luring him back to Golden Boy. Bivol is on another level to him.
Oscar feels that WBA light heavyweight champion Bivol (21-0, 11 KOs) has a “style” that Canelo will “never” defeat, which is why it’s pointless for him to be wasting time thinking of fighting him in a rematch in September.
De La Hoya prefers that Canelo face the “big boys,” starting with a massive mega-fight against David Benavidez next. That’s a winnable fight for Canelo and one that would make enormous money and cement his position at the top of the sport.
In other words, Canelo doesn’t need to put himself at a disadvantage by facing Bivol in a rematch because he has a style of fighting that he can’t beat.
Canelo will NEVER beat Bivol’s style
“Look, styles make fights, and I’ve always said a Canelo style would NEVER beat a Bivol style. It’s written on stone,” Oscar De la Hoya told the DAZN Boxing Show about a rematch between Canelo Alvarez and Dmitry Bivol.
If Canelo had been trained from the start of his career on how to deal with Bivol’s fighting style, you could give him an excellent chance of defeating him, but his current fighting style is already cemented in and totally unchangeable.
The saying goes, ‘Old dogs can’t learn new tricks.’ Canelo is in his 30s now, and it’s too late to acquire the knowledge to become proficient enough to defeat Bivol’s fighting style.
If Canelo had an Eastern European coach from day one as a professional, he’d be a nightmare for Bivol, but that’s not the reality.
De La Hoya hopes to work with Canelo again
“Imagine Canelo coming back to Golden Boy for a mega-fight; that would be an event in itself,” said De La Hoya. I think that if the opportunity presents itself, you never know in boxing,
“I want him to have these major fights to continue building his legacy. You want to know as a fighter when you have those last fights in your career; you want to make the best of it, you want to fight the very best,” said De La Hoya about him wanting Canelo to fight the best.
It’s a good idea for De La Hoya not to get his hopes up for Canelo returning to Golden Boy because that doesn’t look probable.
The only way this writer can see that potential scenario happening is if Canelo’s career goes downhill with his current promoter Eddie Hearn, with him losing to John Ryder, Bivol, and Benavidez all in a row.
If things are looking bleak for Canelo, he might choose to come back to De La Hoya, but it’s more likely he’ll retire at that point. According to Celebrity Net Worth, Canelo has a net worth of $180 million.
You got to imagine that fortune will swell to over $200M by the time he’s done with his fights against Ryder, Bivol, and Benavidez.
With that large nest egg, Canelo will probably hang up his gloves if he loses two or more of his next three fights rather than return to Golden Boy to be reunited with De La Hoya.