Comments Thread For: Canelo's Big Gamble Doesn't Pay Off Against Bivol

[Gamboal00]

He hit Bivol flush a few times but his punches had no effect on Bivol. Which is what you'd expect from a former 150-pounder hitting a 175-pounder with a decent chin.

This is why the Kovalev fight is so questionable. Canelo hit him and he flew into the ropes like he got hit by a super heavyweight. Su****ious and why I said Kov took a dive for $$$.

[P to the J]

Canelo certainly took a gamble, but boxing pundits need to redefine what the ‘gamble’ is, and for that, they may need to start thinking beyond 1 dimension.

The weight class thing is a red herring. There’s little size difference between him and Bivol; Canelo has always been a big guy, draining to get to lower weight classes, so the above is overstated. Further, you’ll note Bivol doesn’t even fight that “tall”.

Canelo’s actual problems were (a) he fought a guy who has excellent footwork, and a phenomenal understanding of distance, flat-footed and (b) that he was unloading endless power shots against a guy with an impossibly tight guard and who has experienced power; probably the only true impact the weight class uplift presented. As a result, Bivol could engage at will, then get out when he didn’t want to engage. Hit and try not to get hit, all night.

With this in mind, the same gameplan that’s been paying off since post-GGG2 needs tweaking, or even scrapping, for a rematch. And I’d say an adjustment implementation would require Canelo to vastly improve his conditioning, so that he can look to apply more pressure to Bivol. Canelo needs to be lighter on his feet to force Bivol to engage more in situations where he doesn’t fancy it.

But I’d bet anyone any cash that (1) the result would have been the same at SMW if both fighters came in with the exact same game plans, and (2) that this Canelo’s preferred game plan can be used to great effect against any LHW not called Bivol, without any adjustment. The rest of the top players are not as multi-faceted. If and when these matchups happen, watch ‘weight class’ talk disappear from the consensus like it never existed.

[P to the J]

He hit Bivol flush a few times but his punches had no effect on Bivol. Which is what you'd expect from a former 150-pounder hitting a 175-pounder with a decent chin.

This is why the Kovalev fight is so questionable. Canelo hit him and he flew into the ropes like he got hit by a super heavyweight. Su****ious and why I said Kov took a dive for $$$.

38 year old (I think?) Kovalev is not Bivol is my answer to that. Plus it was the 11th round, Kov had a fight only a few weeks prior to that, he drinks a lot, etc, etc..

[Robi13]

Been saying Bivol and benavidez were the two fighters that had the best chance to beat Canelo and I also stated Bivol would win Saturday… been saying this for 3 years! I’m not surprised Bivol won, I’m more surprised at how canelo can back these bigger fighters up… that man must punch hard af!!

[Liondw]

I couldn't understand all these writers thinking Canelo was going to just beat down Bivol. Wasn't going to happen.

They got their minds clouded because they thought well, he's going to walk down and batter any opponent from now, as he did to Kovalev, Smith, Saunders and Plant.

Trainer Dave Coldwell gave this pearl of wisdom. He said Canelo has gone away from a few good things he used to do. Lately he just loads up on big power shots, and doesn't sometimes set up good combos, and the jab.

That tactic of throwing singular power punches or two punch combinations works against a lot of fighters, but not against everyone. He did get a lot of punches off to Dmitry's left arm, but he still kept it up and didn't get hit much to the head.

That's a Rocky Marciano tactic, hitting to the arms, bring their guard down. But it didn't work against Bivol. The throwing mostly power punches and missing a lot tired Canelo as we saw him gassed at times.

[champion4ever]

And that's fine cuz at the end of the day, Canelo has fought tough challenges consistently while other fighters are content on hiding behind their promoters. So all this Canelo bashing is silly.

I'm sorry chief! While I respect you. I must strongly disagree with you. I said this before and I am saying it now.

If Canelo Alvarez, Eddy Reynoso and Eddie Hearn ever thought that Dmitry Bivol even had so much as a smidgen of hope of defeating him then he would have never taken the fight in the first place. Dmitry Bivol was a lot better than they anticipated.

It's just like what this article is saying;: "Canelo's big gamble didn't pay off against Bivol".

[edgarg]

By Corey Erdman - In the two days leading up to Canelo Alvarez's bout with Dmitry Bivol, the streets on the southernmost end of the Las Vegas strip were lined with folks slinging t-shirts, hats, flags and headbands bearing Canelo's name. Many of them doubled as vendors of mangoes and Tajin and tacos as well. The paraphernalia often depicted Canelo with a crown. The vibe in the city felt like a festival celebrating a superhero about to conquer his latest challenge.
[Click Here To Read More]

Lucky for Erdman that he's in Canada where a Truth Commisiion can't get at him without a lot of documentation. Alvarez looked VERY ordinary every moment of that fight. In fact so ordinary that it puzzles me as to how he got such a reputation. I haven't watched him since Golovkin 2. And didn't miss much.

Bob Foster was a lousy boxer, 6'3", beat **** Tiger for the title. Tiger was 38 and 5'6". worn out. Foster only had a left hook on a very long skinny arm, no other real boxing skills. He had 8 losses of which 6 were genuine KOs .He had a chin like Amir Khan; would NEVER have amounted to anything. Ezzard Charles was much better. Roy Jones would have killed him stone dead. at will. Tarver would have beaten him up.

Ray Robinson was a natural welterweight who fought middleweights (like Jake Lamotta the long time Champion-6 times) and eventually put on weight to become one, as that's where the real money was then. he was welterweight Champ for 8 years and had no opposition. His fight against Joey Maxim was in a Record breaking heat wave of 103 degrees. He was WELL ahead and only needed to stay on his feet; but collapsed at the end of the 13th rd from heat exhaustion and Maxim leaning on him. I saw his throw a punch which missed and he swung himself off his feet to the canvas. He was delirious. The ref collapsed in rd 10 and was replaced. Robinson weighed 157 at fight timer Maxim 186. At fight end Robinson weighed 147, and Maxim 178.

A lousy lying article typical of a hack writer.

[edgarg]

He hit Bivol flush a few times but his punches had no effect on Bivol. Which is what you'd expect from a former 150-pounder hitting a 175-pounder with a decent chin.

This is why the Kovalev fight is so questionable. Canelo hit him and he flew into the ropes like he got hit by a super heavyweight. Su****ious and why I said Kov took a dive for $$$.

That could be. But wait a bit...the "former welter", was then a growing boy, now matured ast 31 into a very solid, thick bodied, well muscled broad shouldered man in his prime. And he got taken to school BIG TIME. I scored the fight 118-110. The Judges were corrupt. they did the best they could for him as usual, but just could not give hima win when he was so plainly outclassed in every way. The way he wings that looping right hand ,I'm surprised he doesn't break his thumb all the time.

It is NOT a punch that a Champion should have. So amateurish.

[Elastic Recoilz]

Been saying Bivol and benavidez were the two fighters that had the best chance to beat Canelo and I also stated Bivol would win Saturday… been saying this for 3 years! I’m not surprised Bivol won, I’m more surprised at how canelo can back these bigger fighters up… that man must punch hard af!!

This means nothing! It was ineffective aggression... Your boy got bullied, beaten up and hurt throughout and only won two rounds out of 12! Drink it up you pathetic Canelo cawk rider lol lol lol.

[Bronx2245]

Time for Canelo to head beck to 160-168! No shame in that! Plenty of good fights to be made!