May 2022 - Week I
Saturday May 7, 2022
Alvarez v Bivol
Las Vegas, NV
Where to Watch - DAZN PPV
Undercard - 9PM Main Event - 11PM (Central Time)
Hype for this Card - 10/10. As of right now, anything Canelo Alvarez does in the ring is must watch boxing. He’s dominated the Super Middleweight division and is now moving up in weight to start his campaign to unify the Light Heavyweight belts starting with Dimitry Bivol. There is one other matche that caught my eye on the undercard. We’ll get to see a contestant for boxing’s best name, Montana “Too Pretty” Love, continue his push for a super lightweight belt. It’s unfortunate that an IBF Heavyweight title eliminator between Filip Hrgovic and Zhilei Zhang was scrapped last minute because Hrgovic has been missing training time to attend to family issues. Was really looking forward to watching Hrgovic.
Main Event - Light Heavyweight 175 pounds WBA Super World Light Heavyweight Title
Dmitry Bivol #3 (19-0-0) Underdog
vs.
Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (Unranked at Light Heavyweight) (57-1-2) Favorite
What’s at Stake
The WBA Light Heavyweight belt is on the line here. For Canelo it represents the first step towards his goal of unifying the four belts of a second weight class. He is currently the unified Super Middleweight Champion. That would be a feat so unique in the current boxing landscape that it would put him on the Mount Rushmore of all time greats. For Bivol, this is his opportunity to topple a giant and gain worldwide recognition. While he’s displayed a lot of boxing skill as a champ, he’s not really well known outside of the most
Dmitry Bivol
31 years old from Kyrgyzstan, Bivol is the reigning WBA Super World Light Heavyweight title holder. He came onto the scene back in 2017 when he won the WBA World Light Heavyweight belt. As that was only a secondary belt, he eventually won the WBA Super World in 2021 after it was vacated by retiring boxing hall of famer, Andre Ward. While he’s far from a household name, Bivol is true technician in the ring. His defense in particular stands out because he’s able to effectively maintain distance with constant foot movement. Almost jumping in and out of his opponent’s range while firing off combinations. Speaking of his offense, Bivol is able to mix up his punches starting with a stiff jab keeping fighters off guard. You’ll also see great combinations of punches as opposed to home run swings. While he scores a lot of points with judges, this style of boxing isn’t the most aesthetically pleasing. This is how I can see Bivol winning this fight though. He’ll need to use quick accurate strikes on Canelo, without taking too many risks. If he can do that there’s a good shot he can out score Canelo on the cards. Being too aggressive and looking for the knockout would play right into Canelo’s greatest strength, the counterpunch.
Saul “Canelo” Alvarez
31 years old from Mexico, Canelo is most people’s pound for pound #1 fighter in the world as well as the Unified Super Middleweight title holder. He’s also previously won a Light Heavyweight belt although it was against a shell of Sergey Kovalev. Coming into this fight Canelo has made it clear that he only has one objective and that is his legacy. He’s on a mission to win as many belts in as many weight classes as possible. It shows in the pace of his fights. He was able to Unify all four Super Middleweight belts in less than a year, from December 2020 - November 2021. That is insane in today’s boxing landscape. Most fighters at the championship level fight twice a year at most not to mention his three opponents were a combined 78-0. Now he’s taking another huge risk, jumping up in weight class to fight Bivol. If he is able to win here and secure the WBA belt, the other three are about to be unified to either Artur Beterbiev or Joe Smith Jr in June. Then it would only take one more fight to unify the Light Heavyweight belts and etch his face into the Mount Rushmore of boxing.
As far as Canelo in the ring, he generally spends the first few rounds keeping an extremely effective defensive posture with gloves high, feeling out the opponent’s range. Once comfortable, Canelo is able to do most of his damage on the counter attack. He’s patient and will capitalize on missed punches and lapses in concentration, see round 8 of the fight against Billy Joe Saunders. His punches also carry more power than other fighters in the same weight class. Finally he’s a very fundamentally sound boxer. He uses his ability to back down fighters while maintaining defense to quickly close distance and land devastating uppercuts and hooks. Canelo’s path to victory is going to include forcing Bivol into making mistakes that he wouldn’t normally make, then punishing them for a KO.
Pick to Win
This is going to be Canelo’s toughest match yet I think. Bivol is a very sound fighter so mistakes are going to be few and far between. If this goes to the cards, I like Bivol’s chances, but Canelo is just too savvy of a fighter. I think it will take Canelo most of the fight to solve Bivol, but he’ll get in enough shots eventually. If you’re betting, the best value is probably Bivol by decision. That’s his only path to winning and it’s worth a shot at +800.
Canelo by KO in 11.