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Promoter Bob Arum is expecting Mexican superstar and undisputed super middleweight champion Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez 57-1-2 (39) to prevail against WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol 19-0 (11) when they clash at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on Saturday night.
“I think Canelo is something special,” the Top Rank boss said to Little Giant Boxing. “Bivol is a good fighter, but I would side with Canelo in that fight. He is a warrior and he has a great trainer like Eddy Reynoso, so I think he has too much for Bivol, who is not a real puncher. [Bivol] is a competitive guy who has a few good wins.”
The 31-year-old Alvarez is expected to face WBA and IBF middleweight champion Gennadiy Golovkin 42-1-1 (37) for a third time if successful against Bivol. Kazakh bomber Golovkin, 40, is coming off a ninth-round knockout of Ryota Murata in Japan a month ago.
Arum would like to see Alvarez come through those two bout unscathed and face the winner of the Artur Beterbiev 17-0 (17) versus Joe Smith Jr 28-3 (22) fight that is set to take place at Madison Square Garden in New York on June 18.
Beterbiev is the WBC and IBF champion at 175-pounds while Smith is the WBO boss in the same weight class.
“Canelo first has to take care of his business against Bivol,” Arum said. “He has an obligation to fight Golovkin, so we would be talking about May of next year for a possible unification at 175 pounds.”
Arum isn’t the only one who thinks Alvarez will get the better of the undefeated Bivol, 31, who was born in Kyrgyzstan, has Russian nationality but boxes out of California.
Trainer Robert Garcia has had Bivol sparring some of his boxers at his Californian gym. The gun coach likes what he sees out of Bivol, rating him a chance but leaning towards Alvarez to find the key to victory.
“I think [Bivol does have a chance to win], definitely,” Garcia said to FightHype. “Bivol is a very strong guy, very big, tall and he uses his reach really well.
“I still pick Canelo to win. He’s just too strong right now and for that division, I don’t think there’s anybody can beat him. He’s in a difficult fight. Bivol, I got some of my guys sparring with him, and he’s doing really good.
“He’s great, tall, and used his reach. He’s very strong and he’s motivated to win. It’s possible [the fight will be similar to Alvarez’s two previous bouts with Golovkin], plus this guy is much bigger and taller. It’s not going to be an easy fight.
“Canelo has good defence, good guard and he’ll block most of those punches. He’ll find his way in, Canelo is good at that, and he’ll work the body and I think he’ll finish him in the later rounds.”
Retired multi-weight world champion Shane Mosley is also on the Alvarez bandwagon.
“I’m a big Canelo fan and I believe he has too much speed and ring generalship,” Mosley said to FightHype. “Bivol is a good fighter too, but it’s going to be too hard for him.”
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