Dmitry Bivol is fresh off a unanimous decision win against Gilberto Ramirez after dominating Canelo Alvarez as well for a unanimous decision win in May.
In their 12-round affair, the WBA light heavyweight champion Bivol used his size and speed to outland the undisputed super middleweight champion Alvarez 152 to 84.
Alvarez (58-2-2, 39 KOs) contemplated a rematch with Bivol (21-0, 11 KOs) but instead dropped back down to 168 pounds and embarked on a trilogy fight with Gennadiy Golovkin in September, a fight he won comfortably via unanimous decision.
Based on that performance, former welterweight champion turned boxing analyst Shawn Porter doesn’t see how Alvarez can beat Bivol if they were to ever meet again.
“I expected Canelo to dominate Triple G. I just think Triple G and Canelo are on two different levels, and Canelo didn’t show that,” Porter told IFL TV. “The fact that he didn’t show that against Triple G in this trilogy fight leads me to believe he may not be as prepared as I thought he would be in a rematch with Bivol.
“Canelo wasn’t as prepared as he should have been against Bivol. He didn’t have multiple game plans. He didn’t make any adjustments. He didn’t make one adjustment against Bivol, and I knew that coming back against Triple G, we were going to see a very dominant Canelo that we’d seen in the past and come right at Triple G like he did. We didn’t see anything different about Canelo.
“One thing we did see differently was his gas tank. This guy was not conditioned for 12 rounds. You have to be conditioned to go 12 hard rounds, no matter who you’re in the ring with. I think if Canelo had been in better condition, that fight would not have gone the distance.
“Based on this fight with Triple G, I don’t think he beats Bivol in the rematch. Before this fight, I thought Canelo would come back in the ring and be a better version of himself and have more variety in the rematch with Bivol, and I thought he’d beat Bivol in the rematch.”
Recently, Bivol has been lukewarm on the idea of facing Alvarez once again, stating that the rematch “is not interesting like it was before” and that “money is good but legacy is better.”
He’s also maintained that he plans on continuing to fight at 175 pounds and his goal is to become undisputed champion by beating current WBC, WBO, and IBF crownholder Artur Beterbiev.
Alvarez is currently recovering from left wrist surgery and it's uncertain whether he will be healthy to return for a fight in May or September.
Manouk Akopyan is a sports journalist, writer and broadcast reporter. He’s also a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and MMA Journalists Association. He can be reached on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube at @ManoukAkopyan, via email at manouk[dot]akopyan[at]gmail.com or on www.ManoukAkopyan.com.