Sergey Kovalev backs Dmitry Bivol to defeat Canelo Alvarez – Ring News 24 | Boxing News

Sergey ‘Krusher’ Kovalev says WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol has the skills to defeat Mexican superstar and reigning undisputed super middleweight champion Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez.

The 31-year-old Alvarez 57-1-2 (39) will move up in weight to challenge Russian Bivol 19-0 (11) at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on May 7.

It will be his second foray in the 175-pound weight class following his 11th round knockout of then-WBO champion Kovalev of Russia in Las Vegas in November 2019.

Kovalev is backing his 31-year-old countryman to get the job done against Alvarez.

“I don’t like to make predictions, but I’m very happy for Dmitry [Bivol] because right now, he’s fresh, he didn’t fight for a long time and ready for the fight,” Kovalev said to FightHype.

“He has a lot of time for preparation and he has a great opportunity to get a victory what I didn’t [against Canelo]. Right now, I’m happy for Dmitry and good luck to him.”

Kovalev, who is moving up in weight himself to compete in the cruiserweight division, compared his loss to Alvarez to his pair of fights against Andre Ward.

Their first bout resulted in a points win for Ward by scores of 114-113 across the board in November 2016. The rematch seven months later saw Kovalev get stopped in eight frames.

“It was a different me in both fights,” said Kovalev. “I fought Canelo with an empty tank of energy. With Andre Ward, I overrated him in training. I over-trained myself. Canelo is Canelo and Andre Ward is Andre Ward. Everyone is different. They’re boxers like any boxers.”

Alvarez has been on a tear of late, cleaning up the 168-pound division to claim the WBC, WBA, WBO and IBF titles since settling into the super middleweight division following his victory over Kovalev.

The 38-year-old Kovalev 34-4-1 (29) hasn’t fought since the Alvarez loss 27 months ago. He will be back in action at 200-pounds against Tervel Pulev 16-0 (13) over 10 rounds at the Forum in Inglewood, California on May 14.

The slick-boxing Bivol will have his work cut out for him against pound-for-pound king Alvarez, but Kovalev says the task isn’t insurmountable.

“I think Bivol has a great opportunity to get a victory over Canelo and this makes the fight very interesting to me and for all boxing fans,” said Kovalev.

“Bivol is undefeated and motivated because he has a zero, and this will be good motivation for him to save his zero. I can say to him good luck and I believe he can get a victory over Canelo.”

Bivol himself is confident of victory.

“I will try to give my best to make a good fight,” he said. “I will try to win and I am confident in all my skills to make it a great fight for everyone out there.”