By Sean Jones: Edgar Berlanga could be next for Canelo Alvarez in September after Vadim Kornilov, the manager for Dmitry Bivol, exposed the Mexican star as not being seriously interested in a rematch by offering the same exact terms as the first fight a year ago.
By offering Bivol the same terms as the first fight, which he knows he’ll reject, Canelo can tell his fans, ‘See, I tried to make the rematch, but he didn’t agree; he just wants payday.’ Canelo’s fans will believe him, naturally.
Obviously, if Canelo wanted to fight Bivol again, he would have done it by now instead of stringing it out over a year. We kept hearing from Canelo that he would eventually fight Bivol, but it never happened, and it was clear that he wasn’t serious.
Canelo’s promoter Eddie Hearn recently signed the unbeaten super middleweight contender Berlanga (20-0, 16 KOs) to put him in with the Mexican star. Berlanga has an inflated resume filled with scrubs.
When Berlanga’s former promoters at Top Rank moved him from D-level opposition to C-level guys, he floundered, showing he lacked the talent to dominate at this level.
Top Rank never got the chance to match Berlanga with quality fighters, as he left the company when they were going to move him off of headlining to being an undercard fighter.
Kornilov believes that Canelo’s public talk of wanting a rematch is just theater to show fans that he tried to get the fight, but in reality, he wants no part of ever fighting Bivol because he knows he can’t win.
Canelo (59-2-2, 39 KOs) lost that fight to Bivol (21-0, 11 KOs) by a 12 round unanimous decision, so it’s laughable that he would insist on the same terms for the rematch.
There was a rematch clause, which likely had the financials spelled out, but given that Canelo opted not to use it by choosing to go in a different direction towards fighting Gennadiy Golovkin and John Ryder, the negotiations for a second fight would start from scratch.
“They don’t want a rematch, and they are saying that to justify themselves and make another fight as they did with Golovkin, John Ryder, and Berlanga,” said Bivol’s manager Vadim Kornilov to ESPN Deportes.
“A rematch cannot take place on the same terms as the fight you lost. Artur Beterbiev is our target.”
Unless Canelo changes his mind about not wanting the rematch, Bivol will move forward with his goal of facing IBF, WBC & WBO light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev (19-0, 19 KOs)for the undisputed 175-lb championship.
That’s the fight the fans want to see far more than a mismatch involving Canelo, who Bivol exposed for lacking the technical skills to hang with him.
