By Dan Ambrose: Shane Mosley thinks that Canelo Alvarez will be walking into a “very dangerous” fight for him in his rematch with WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol in September.
Interestingly, the 32-year-old Canelo (59-2-2, 39 KOs) is refusing to take the weight handicap that Bivol (21-0, 11 KOs) is offering to him by having the rematch take place at 168 instead of 175, which would put the bigger fighter at a disadvantage.
It almost seems Canelo is purposefully stacking the deck against himself to see if he can overcome the huge size advantage that Bivol will have in this fight.
If Canelo really wanted to put himself at a disadvantage, he could stage the rematch on the East Coast, where more of Bivol’s fans live.
The Canelo-Bivol rematch still hasn’t been negotiated, but it’s probable that the fight will take place in September. Canelo wants to at least try to avenge his loss.
“This guy was a good fighter, strong, and was able to be in the ring with Canelo,” said Shane Mosley to Fight Hub TV, talking about John Ryder being good enough to hang with Canelo Alvarez for twelve rounds.
“Canelo being past his prime, I don’t think so. He’s about 32-33. He’s right here, but maybe he’ll start doing this [slowly declining], but he’s not past his prime at all. Maybe a little past, but not really. I don’t think so.
“I think he’s good. I think he’s great. It’s a hard fight, but it’s a challenge. It’s something that I definitely would have done,” said Mosley about Canelo taking a rematch with Dmitry Bivol.
“I did it with Vernon Forrest. I’ve done it with Winky Wright. You can’t believe this person can beat you or done these different things.
Sure, there are some things that Canelo could have done differently in that fight with Bivol to make it better for him, and maybe he’s thinking that’s going to be the answer. But the size difference, and Canelo being a little bit taller than me, and fighting a guy that big, it’s really hard.
“That’s why I thought Ryan was going to do a little bit better against Davis because of that height difference, but it didn’t happen. Davis proved to be able to get inside, hit the body shot, and do different things. Ryan proved to be a little bit more inexperienced than I thought.
“That being said, it’s a very good fight, but it’s still a very dangerous fight for Canelo, being that because Bivol knew how to use his jab and to use his distance. He knows how to throw a lot of punches. It’s still a hard fight.
“Looking back at my career, it could be a detriment because you believe you can beat a person and your talent is a lot better, and everything. It’s almost like the age thing. You get older, and there’s nothing you can do about it. The guy [Bivol] is taller than you, and there’s nothing you can do about it.
“He [Bivol] started when he was eight years old as well. He knows how to do the stuff. It could be to his detriment. It could be, but at the same time, he could do some damaging things to Bivol that he learned from the last fight, but it’s going to be hard,” said Mosley about Canelo.
