By Sean Jones: Carl Froch says he signs that Canelo Alvarez is “swerving” the rematch with WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol and that his promoter Eddie Hean is unusually “quiet” about that fight.
The former unified super middleweight champion Froch has been around the game for a long time, and he knows when a fighter is “swerving” a talented guy.
Without going into detail, Froch sees the telltale signs from the Mexican star Canelo (59-2-2, 39 KOs) will sidestep the rematch with Bivol (21-0, 11 KOs).
It is evident that Canelo isn’t keen on the Bivol rematch because he’s now using the word “if” instead of more explicit language.
“If the fight with Bivol don’t happen, we’ll see,” said Canelo last Saturday night. “We Want Bivol! Same Rules, Same Terms.”
As you can see, Canelo uses the “if” word and mentions that the rematch with Bivol will need to be under the “same terms.”
What Canelo appears to be saying here is that for the rematch to happen with Bivol, it would need to be under the same financial terms as the first fight, with no changes and, of course, at the same weight at 175. Does this sound like a person that wants the rematch with Bivol?
It’s pretty clear that Canelo is tactically blowing Bivol off, setting it up to where when he rejects that deal, Alvarez can say, ‘See, I tried to make the fight, but he didn’t want it.‘ Canelo would then move on and face recent Matchroom Boxing signee Edgar Berlanga in September at Yankees Stadium in New York.
Berlanga (20-0, 16 KOs) is another John Ryder-level fighter, but worse because he can take a punch and will likely fall apart immediately as soon as Canelo lands a solid shot on his chin.
Canelo was supposed to be fighting the 25-year-old New Yorker Berlanga in early 2024; those plans could be moved ahead after his poor showing against Ryder last weekend.
“It has to be Bivol, but it looks like he’s swerving it. Eddie Hearn loves a rematch but has been a bit quiet around it. Bivol is who he should fight next. Why is it not happening?” said Froch to the Sporting Post about the Canelo Alvarez vs. Dmitry Bivol rematch.
“Bivol wins if it happens. When you look at the last time they fought, Bivol was really busy, fresh, strong, and powerful. He’s a natural light-heavyweight.
“I remember watching him in Monaco [in Bivol’s 1st round KO of Trent Broadhurst on November 4, 2017] early in his career, I remember thinking, ‘Wow, he’s one to swerve. He’s dangerous.’
“When the Canelo fight was made, I thought, ‘He fought [Sergey] Kovalev at light-heavyweight [in 2019], but this fight he’s going to struggle,’ and he got hammered,” said Froch about Canelo’s loss to Bivol last year.
