Canelo Alvarez has been very vocal about stating that if he were able to beat John Ryder on May 6th, in Mexico, that he is looking to face Dmitry Bivol, and would prefer to face him on the same terms as his prior fight, competing at the light heavyweight limit.
A recent interview with both Bivol and his manager Vadim Kornilov conducted by Tom Gray of the SportingNews, who is the manager of Dmitry Bivol, essentially gave credence to a sentiment Bivol has been saying for some time. Bivol appears uninterested in rematching Canelo, unless it is for the undisputed super middleweight titles. For that to happen, Canelo will need to get by John Ryder first.
It appears the only way team Bivol is interested in facing Canelo Alvarez is on their terms. They hold the leverage and wish to leverage this into an undisputed super middleweight world title fight with the former pound-for-pound number one fighter in the world.
“OK, then we go to 175 and beat him at 175 again,” said the manager. “At the end of the day… why would Canelo not want to fight at the lower weight?”
As for Bivol, the long-reigning WBA light heavyweight champion views the unified WBO, WBC and IBF light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev as his most interesting option. Bivol seems focused on legacy. So in a perfect world, Bivol would follow not the biggest purse, but look for the fight that allows him to chase becoming an undisputed world champion in either super middleweight or light heavyweight.
“It’s less interesting than against Beterbiev,” said Bivol. “I want to fight for belts. I don’t want to fight again at 175. It’s an excuse for [Canelo] that it’s not his weight class again. Let’s do it at another weight class.”
