Former four division world champion Roy Jones Jr., who during his prime was the king of the light heavyweight division, believes WBA champion Dmitry Bivol (14-0, 11 KOs) needs at least one or two more fights before a unification with WBO champion Eleider Alvarez (24-0, 12 KOs).
The two boxers were in action as part of a doubleheader, earlier this month in Atlantic City.
In the co-feature, Bivol won a tough twelve round decision over Isaac Chilemba. And Alvarez pulled off one of the biggest surprises so far in 2018 - as he knocked out Sergey Kovalev in the seventh round to capture the WBO belt. Kovalev went down three times before the contest was stopped.
Jones was sitting at ringside as part of the HBO broadcast team.
HBO has reserved a date of December 8th, for what should have been a unification between Kovalev and Bivol.
With the big win by Alvarez, the network would love to see him face Bivol on the date - but Kovalev does have a rematch clause and he can easily exercise that option to force an immediate second fight with Alvarez.
As they stand right now, Jones tabs Alvarez as having a bit too much for Bivol.
"Alvarez has been waiting in the wings for over five years now. He knew it was his time. And what we wanted to see is if the fire fizzled out [from waiting too long] or did he still have the fire. If he still had the fire, could he withstand the early onslaught [from Kovalev]. We knew that if he could weather the storm, he could get Kovalev," Jones said.
"With Bivol, he needs one or two more fights before he fights [Alvarez], because [Alvarez] has a lot of game and a lot of professional experience. If he can get a few more fights, then [Bivol] can be a problem."