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

[57Blues]

There are many things I do not like reguarding Saul, that is part of being a fight fan in my part of this world. Others love the guy he could do no wrong and if you questioned his talent or skills in the ring you were either called a "CASUAL" or something else meant to be derogatory. Sobeit. I am no fight expert just a fan, but most men have fought in there lives with gloves or without gloves. No dif then playing baseball when we grew up, there were basketball courts, there were boxing gyms easily available no big deal life in the City. I do not like the writers use of the word "casual" he should know better and if ever wants to speak at me about that I will respond in kind. Also forget the word "cherry-pick. Man is that the lingo you use everyday to describe a fighter like Saul ? Saul is a professional fighter who wanted to make a lot of money OK ? So you plan out who and how others are going to control and manage your Professional Boxing Carear is what he did. Up steps Oscar and of course Eddie. What does Saul do in the ring he fights less then fighters attempting to learn in the ring sorta a Professional Prospect. That is how I always looked at Saul. And I knew when the time came and he fought on equal grounds agaist a fighter that could and would challenge him he would loose and he did. I said in many a place, and was shut out or shouted out. It is not that I hate Saul and his type, But like with most people I will fell better when he is no longer around. At least not spoken about like some kind of "great" anything well he is damn good at making money selling the product. But where I come from that don't make you great in the Ring........

[Monty Fisto]

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.

Good post.

[Bro. Steve]

I was surprised, almost shocked, that Las Vegas judges scored it for Bivol. They still gave Canelo more than his share of rounds, but in the end, they raised the hand of the clear winner. Surprising. Nice, but surprising.

Question for the real fighters, if any are on this forum. Why did Canelo spend so much energy landing big power shots on Bivol’s left shoulder? That looked intentional, and really unwise. What did Canelo expect to gain from doing that?

[ultravividscene]

Why did Canelo spend so much energy landing big power shots on Bivol’s left shoulder? That looked intentional, and really unwise. What did Canelo expect to gain from doing that?

Cos that's where Bivol keeps his chin

[MPA2000]

I'm enjoying the aftermath of this fight. I love watching Canelo fans eat crow, just like the Pacquiao fans. They have generally likable boxers, but their fanatic fans makes you want to bet against them.

So I was surfing Youtube channels listening to Canelo fans try to come to terms with the loss and eventually they all just say "he was just too small" or "It was the extra weight he put on". Sounds familar? Yep just like the excuses when he lost to Floyd. "too young. Too green". Despite the fact he and Floyd had almost the same number of fights, and Canelo had already beaten the likes of Trout and Mosley.

[chavmex]

Im a Nelo fan, He lost 9 rds of the 12 rds fight. Bivol was too much for him in all aspects of boxing. Better range, ring generalship, faster and tactically better. No excuses Canelo lost and? all great ones have to lose when they are in this level of competition and taking risks. The only thing Canelo did wrong in this fight was his training, and it showed at the time of the fight. He had no speed, no movement and no real condition to last the 12 rds. Lifting weights is a NO,NO! for any boxer, why can they fkn get that?
Listen for all of these causal fights see Mantquilla Napoles vs Carlos Monzon fight, and see the results of a great Welter weight fighter trying to attempt on dethroning the second best middle weight in history of boxing. I'm happy for Canelo's lost, this will open the doors to those fighter that want to fight him now. Benavidez, Charlo, GGG and maybe Demetrius Andrade. Over all Bivol is too much for Canelo. If they fight 10 times Bivol will beat him the 10 times.

[Ronn]

I'm enjoying the aftermath of this fight. I love watching Canelo fans eat crow, just like the Pacquiao fans. They have generally likable boxers, but their fanatic fans makes you want to bet against them.

So I was surfing Youtube channels listening to Canelo fans try to come to terms with the loss and eventually they all just say "he was just too small" or "It was the extra weight he put on". Sounds familar? Yep just like the excuses when he lost to Floyd. "too young. Too green". Despite the fact he and Floyd had almost the same number of fights, and Canelo had already beaten the likes of Trout and Mosley.

Cowardnelo is a poor mans Andy Ruiz

[BoxingTrain]

“Canelo’s Big Gamble” lmao. Naw it was a cherry pick gone wrong. Why all the BS excuses. Everything was in Canelo’s favor to win. The only person to take a gamble and risk was Bivol. He got lucky he won that 12th rd convincingly, they were ready to rob him no doubt.

[MastaBlasta]

He took the fight simply because he thought it would have been a much easier fight than David Benavidez; The very same man that he had been ducking all this time but boy was he wrong?

He would have had a much better chance of stopping Benavidez than he ever would against Dmitry Bivol; Who was not only the more scientific of the two fighters but likewise the more fundamentally sound of the two also.as David would have been the much easier fighter to hit.

It’s just like what another poster said; "This was very poor matchmaking by both Eddy Reynoso and Eddie Hearn". Chasing dreams history, daring to be great and solidifying his legacy be damned.

His fans can buy that shit "hook, line and sinker" all they want too but the bottom line is he fought Bivol simply because he underestimated him and because he was avoiding David Benavidez

Agreed. Daring to be great he thought he was getting another aerage guy who happened to have a belt in a higher division (like the Rocky Fielding fiasco and catching Kovalev when he was kinda done). Poor research by hm and his team, Bivol has always been a real deal. But he wasn't overly impressive in his last couple of fights. Team Canelo thought they were catching him on the down ...

[MastaBlasta]

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.

Hmmnnn ... they estimated Canelo weighed 172 when he fought Mayweather at 154? Mayweather had five steaks for dinner and weighed 150. Canelo has been the very definition of a weight bully ... fighting divisions below his normal run-the-street weight. He's been weighing in the 170's most of his career since Trout. So he really was never a real 150 pounder. He was dehydrating to fight in the smaller divisions.

He pretty much admits it when he says he could fight Usyk at 201. He knows he can easily fight and train in the 190's. That's probably close to his street weight these days.