Hearn On Canelo: I've Never Met A More Fearless Individual; Champ After Champ After Champ

LAS VEGAS – Dmitry Bivol will be the eighth world champion Canelo Alvarez will have faced in his past 10 fights after Saturday night.

The Mexican superstar can become a two-time light heavyweight champion by beating Bivol in their 12-round fight for Bivol’s WBA 175-pound championship at T-Mobile Arena. If the favored Alvarez wins, he is expected to move back down to the super middleweight limit for his following fight – a long-awaited third showdown with his rival, IBF/WBA middleweight champ Gennadiy Golovkin.

Promoter Eddie Hearn marveled at Alvarez’s ambition just before the four-division champion’s “grand arrival” at MGM Grand on Tuesday afternoon.

“This guy, Canelo Alvarez, is incredible,” Hearn told DAZN’s Claudia Trejos. “It’s champion after champion after champion after champion – 160, 168, 175, no problem. I’ve never met a more fearless individual. He’s so calm. But again, so is Dmitry Bivol. You know, if you check Dmitry Bivol’s pulse right now, you might not feel anything. So, he’s ice cold going into this fight.

“He may be the best 175-pounder in the world, and this is a very difficult fight for Canelo Alvarez. But, you know, you’ll see him in a few minutes. And, you know, he’s the man. He’s the man to beat in boxing. He’s the face of boxing. He’s the pound-for-pound king and he’s a generational fighter.”

Winning his last fight – an 11th-round knockout of former IBF champ Caleb Plant (21-1, 12 KOs) on November 6 at MGM Grand Garden Arena – made Alvarez boxing’s first fully unified super middleweight champion of the sport’s four-belt era. The 31-year-old Alvarez won the WBO 168-pound championship in his previous fight, which he won by stopping England’s Billy Joe Saunders (30-1, 14 KOs) after the eighth round last May 8 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

Guadalajara’s Alvarez (57-1-2, 39 KOs) captured the WBA and then-vacant WBC belts by dominating England’s Callum Smith (28-1, 20 KOs) two bouts before he defeated Saunders. Alvarez won that bout by wide margins on all three scorecards in December 2020 at Alamodome in San Antonio.

 A victory over Bivol (19-0, 11 KOs) would be Alvarez’s fourth win against an undefeated fighter in his past five appearances.

“Last Saturday, Madison Square Garden was incredible,” Hearn said in reference to the Katie Taylor-Amanda Serrano women’s lightweight title fight his company, Matchroom Boxing, co-promoted. “You know, we saw a fight we’ll remember for a long time. And I actually believe we’ll see a fight we’ll remember for a long time here this Saturday as well because, you know, we know Canelo Alvarez is the pound-for-pound number one. But Dmitry Bivol, cool as a cucumber. You know, undefeated, never really been in any trouble in a fight. It’s how many levels can Dmitry Bivol go to this Saturday against the face of boxing, Canelo Alvarez? It’s gonna be an incredible fight.”

DAZN will offer Alvarez-Bivol as the main event of a pay-per-view show ($59.99 for subscribers; $79.99 for non-subscribers). This four-fight pay-per-view show also can be bought through cable and satellite providers for $79.99.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.