Oscar Valdez says Canelo Alvarez wants Bivol rematch

By Boxing News - 05/20/2023 - Comments

By Dan Ambrose: Oscar Valdez says Canelo Alvarez wants to avenge his loss to Dmitry Bivol and fight him in September. Canelo (59-2-2, 39 KOs) already started training for the Bivol rematch the Monday after his harder-than-expected win on May 6th against John Ryder.

Valdez, who shares the same ring with Canelo, says he wants to get the Bivol fight off his chest by facing him again. However, the rematch still hasn’t been negotiated, and it’s questionable whether Canelo might ruin his chances for a second fight by playing hardball during the talks.

Bivol seems ambivalent about fighting Canelo again, as he already toyed with him once, and he’d rather fight unified light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev for the undisputed championship rather than go over the old ground against a fighter that wasn’t same league talent-wise as him.

In Canelo’s recent fight against Ryder, he looked like the guy who lost to Bivol and struggled to beat 40-year-old Gennadiy Golovkin last year. The 32-year-old Canelo was still throwing one punch at a time and gassed out in the second half as he did against Bivol and Golovkin. He’s not learning and improving. As they say, ‘You can’t teach old dogs. That could apply to Canelo, unfortunately.

“Canelo doesn’t need boxing to live. He can retire today and live for the rest of his life with the money he has,”  said Oscar Valdez to Fight Hub TV. “When he’s back home in Guadalajara, he has many instructions. So that can be another one.

“He’s got that one thing on his mind that he’s got to get off his chest. He wants to fight Bivol, and a lot of people say he doesn’t have a chance because Bivol put hands on him.

“He did win the fight, but I think Canelo wasn’t 100% there,” said Valdez when asked why Canelo returned to the gym the Monday after his win over John Ryder to start training immediately for his next fight in September.

Canelo wasn’t giving priority to boxing

“Maybe he got a little too confident and wasn’t giving priority to boxing. He plays golf; he’s a businessman; he’s a family man. The reason he came back Monday after fighting Saturday is that he wants to fight Bivol and train right for him.

“So it could be a lot of things because I heard comments that he’s on his way down. I don’t think that’s the case. He was trying to fight differently because of the crowd. He wants to give them a knockout.

“When you’re looking for a knockout, most of the time, you’re not going to get it. Knockouts come on their own. John Ryder also trains hard, just like any other fighter that are looking for that opportunity.

“People see a fight and automatically assume something without looking at the full picture of what could happen. I don’t think it was a bad performance. He was just trying to get the knockout,” said Valdez about Canelo in his bout against Ryder.

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