‘Canelo’, now the undisputed monarch of the super middleweight (168 pounds – 76.2kg), feels in the best moment of his career and confident before the challenge of beating Bivol in a higher division.
“He is a great champion, a great fighter. We know it but we have prepared for him,” said the boxer from Guadalajara at Thursday’s press conference.
“I feel alive when I have these challenges. I respect Dmitry Bivol’s skills but it’s my moment, I feel better than ever”, assured. “I want to make history and those challenges are what will put me in the boxing history books.”
‘Canelo’, 31, has 57 wins (39 knockouts), two draws and a single defeat in his career, suffered against the American Floyd Mayweather Jr by points in 2015.
The Mexican is one of the boxers with the most capacity to attract fans, capable of gathering 73,000 fans at the AT&T Stadium of the Dallas Cowboys in his victory a year ago against the British Billy Joe Saunders.
His last step in the ring was on November 6 in his knockout victory against American Caleb Plant, which established him as the first undisputed super middleweight champion in boxing history.
Saturday’s fight at the 20,000-capacity T-Mobile Arena is the first of three that ‘Canelo’ has slated for this year in his lucrative contract with Matchroom Boxing and DAZN.
In the second, to be held in September, the Mexican is expected to complete his trilogy against Golovkin at super middleweight.
The Kazakh, who fulfilled his part in April by defeating the Japanese Ryota Murata, and the Mexican staged a controversial draw in the first chapter in 2017, while Álvarez won the rematch in 2018.
“That fight is for the fans,” Canelo told ESPN. “They want the Golovkin fight, so I say, ‘Why not?’
But before reuniting with his archrival, ‘Canelo’ awaits a fight against Bivol that could lead him to an unprecedented feat in boxing.
If Álvarez takes his WBA light heavyweight title from the Russian, he will have taken a first step towards being the undisputed champion of a second category.
No male boxer has accomplished this feat since the start of the four-belt era at the beginning of this century.
“I have won all the champions at 168 (pounds). Now I have to take on other challenges. I do it for myself, not only to make history but because I need to feel those kinds of challenges,” Canelo stressed on Thursday.
Bivol, for his part, is determined to give the big surprise and establish himself as the fighter who ruined the great plans of the Mexican.
At 31 years old, the Russian has an immaculate record of 19 wins (11 knockouts) and no losses and has been successfully defending the WBA title since 2016.
Six centimeters taller than ‘Canelo’, Bivol is a strong boxer with a refined technique, who handles distance to limit exchanges and relies on his powerful jab to attack.
“I am very happy to have this opportunity. I have asked my team for years to compete against the best,” Bivol recalled on Thursday. “It’s been a long journey to this point and now I have to do my job.”
“I’ve been in boxing since I was five years old. At 16 I was already a world amateur champion twice. Now I have a belt and I’m a champion. Why can’t I win?” he asked.
Although he was born in Kyrgyzstan, Bivol has Russian nationality and, like many athletes from that country, he will have to compete in Las Vegas without national symbols due to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
The WBA decided not to exclude Russian boxers but prevented them from entering the ring with their national flag or anthem.
Source: Ambito
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