LAS VEGAS – Canelo Alvarez has accepted defeat four months after arguing that he did enough to beat Dmitry Bivol in their light heavyweight title fight.
The confident four-division champion still believes, though, that he is the best boxer, pound-for-pound, in the sport. Alvarez (57-2-2, 39 KOs) occupied the top spot on most credible pound-for-pound lists before Bivol beat him in their 12-rounder May 7 at T-Mobile Arena.
The Mexican icon informed a group of reporters Wednesday at MGM Grand that he should remain number one in large part because his unanimous-decision defeat to Bivol was the consequence of taking the type of risk most contemporaries wouldn’t have chosen.
“I think I’m the best fighter in the world because nobody do what I do in boxing,” said Alvarez, who will square off against Gennadiy Golovkin for the third time Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena. “Nobody take the risks like me, and I don’t need to take risks – please. But I love challenges, and that’s it. And I feel I’m still the best.”
BoxingScene.com ranked Alvarez fifth on its most recent pound-for-pound list, behind Naoya Inoue, Oleksandr Usyk, Errol Spence Jr. and Terence Crawford, respectively. The Ring magazine also most recently ranked Alvarez fifth, but The Ring rated Usyk first and Inoue second.
ESPN.com has Alvarez in its fifth spot as well, but behind Crawford, Inoue, Spence and Usyk.
Alvarez ascended to the number one position on most pound-for-pound lists after winning his rematch with Golovkin because he moved up two weight classes and knocked out Sergey Kovalev to win the WBO light heavyweight title, and later became boxing’s undisputed super middleweight champion. The 32-year-old Guadalajara native will defend his IBF, WBA, WBC and WBO 168-pound championships against Golovkin, who will make his debut at the super middleweight limit versus Alvarez.
Kazakhstan’s Golovkin (42-1-1, 37 KOs), who has held at least one middleweight title for most of his career, is not ranked among the top 10, pound-for-pound, by BoxingScene.com, The Ring or ESPN.com. Russia’s Bivol (20-0, 11 KOs) is rated sixth by BoxingScene.com, seventh by The Ring and eighth by ESPN.com.
Despite the completely competitive nature of their two middleweight title fights, most sportsbooks have established Alvarez as at least a 5-1 favorite over Golovkin. DAZN Pay-Per-View will distribute their third fight as the main event of a show that’ll cost subscribers $64.99 and non-subscribers $84.99.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
