By Sean Nam
December 1, 2022
Source: Boxing News 24
Photo Source: Boxing Scene
Dmitry Bivol couldn’t help but break out into a smile when he was informed of another one of Canelo Alvarez’s justifications for his loss in their light heavyweight title bout in May.
In what was a minor upset, Russia’s Bivol outpointed Mexico’s Alvarez over 12 rounds to successfully defend his WBA light heavyweight belt at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Alvarez, who is still the undisputed champion at 168, has been adamant about avenging his loss to Bivol. The Mexican superstar has cited a slew of factors that he believes hampered his performance against the Russian, from having a subpar training camp to the fact that light heavyweight is not his normal weight.
More recently, Alvarez said an injured left wrist affected how he prepared for the Bivol fight. Alvarez recently underwent successful surgery for that wrist. He said he expects to return in May, followed, ideally, by a rematch with Bivol in the fall.
“We will see, we will see,” a bemused Bivol told FightHype.com after he was informed of Alvarez’s latest alibi. “I don’t know. First of all he said that it wasn’t his weight class. Then he said it wasn’t [a] good camp. Now he said it was his arm. What [can I] say?”
Bivol, who is under contract with Matchroom Boxing, has frequently indicated that he is not exactly enthusiastic about a rematch with Alvarez and that he would much rather engage Artur Beterbiev for the light heavyweight undisputed championship. Beterbiev is set to defend his WBO, WBC, and IBF 175-pound title against Anthony Yarde on Jan. 28 in London.
“If I train hard, if everything is good in my camp, I believe in my skills I can beat everyone at light heavyweight,” Bivol said. “But if something [goes] wrong [in training camp], anything can happen.”
Bivol is coming off a defense of his WBA title in November against Gilberto Ramirez, soundly beating the Mexican by unanimous decision.
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