Dmitry Bivol seems intent on claiming all of Saul “Canelo” Alvarez’ titles at Super Middleweight according to his manager, Vadim Komilov, who confirmed as such in an interview with Little Giant Boxing. Canelo Alvarez is currently slated to fight British WBO interim champion John Ryder in his home country of Mexico on May 6th.
If Canelo Alvarez (58-2-2, 39 KO’s) defeats John Ryder (32-5, 18 KO’s) in May, a rematch with Dmitry Bivol (21-0, 11 KO’s) would naturally be of interest to the undisputed Super Middleweight champion who first suffered an upset loss to Bivol on May 7th last year.
Dmitry Bivol himself also seems interested in the rematch, but only at 168 lbs, as indicated by his manager Vadim Komilov.
“They have to meet certain terms we’re asking for, and one of those terms is that Bivol wants to fight him (Canelo Alvarez) at 168 lbs.” Komilov said.
“Bivol wants it to be a fight where there are no more excuses, because Canelo said after the last fight that (he lost because) he went up in weight. But he’s done that before.
“Saying ‘I’ve made a mistake’ when you lose, it doesn’t sound right because there wasn’t a mistake when you won, when you beat Kovalev, so why is it now that it is not your weight class.“
Based on Komilov’s words, Bivol seems intent on proving himself a weight class below to shut any notion that Canelo Alvarez lost because he moved up a weight class. Alvarez’ first move to Light-Heavyweight came several years before in 2019 when he defeated Sergey Kovalev (35-4-1, 29 KO’s) by knockout in the eleventh round, and his second fight in the division came in 2022 when he lost against Dmitry Bivol on May 7th.
Vadim Komilov also expressed some doubts as to whether the rematch would actually occur.
“If all the terms together, then I believe the fight can happen but right now, I hear a lot of talk about them wanting the rematch but I don’t see any action, any steps, to realize that.” Komilov said.
One of the problems that seems to affect the negotiations – according to Komilov – seems to pertain to Dmitry Bivol preferring to fight Canelo Alvarez at Super Middleweight, while Alvarez prefers to rematch the Russian champion at 175 lbs where they had fought in the first match.
This is further corroborated by Canelo Alvarez himself who had stated last month to want to rematch Dmitry Bivol strictly at 175 lbs.
Komilov further went on to clarify why Bivol would rather fight Alvarez at Super Middleweight rather than Light-Heavyweight.
“If (the fight) is at 175 lbs it’s like repeating what he’s already done before.” Komilov explained, not to mention that Dmitry Bivol would gain the opportunity to become undisputed at 168 lbs if the fight was to take place – and Alvarez was to defeat John Ryder.
Dmitry Bivol also seems intent to unify with the only other champion in the division, fellow Russian-Canadian Artur Beterbiev (19-0,19 KO’s) who currently holds all the other world title belts except for the WBA Light-Heavyweight title.
“I think a unification fight with Beterbiev ― or the winner of Beterbiev vs. Smith ― is a lot more enticing.” Komilov added. “That would be a challenge. That would be something to keep Bivol on his toes and urge him to do everything he can to win, just like how he was against Canelo.“
