What a wild few years it has been for Canelo Alvarez. In 2021, Canelo was the census best fighter in the world, this was followed by being outpointed by Dmitry Bivol, and one of the worst main event pay-per-view fights I have ever seen when he fought Gennadiy Golovkin for the third time.
Now it appears Alvarez has planned out his 2023 already, as we almost assume John Ryder will fight Canelo in May, more than likely in the U.K., and now Alvarez via Eddie Hearn, who has promoted a lot of his recent events, explained that Dmitry Bivol will more than likely face Canelo in September.
“Canelo wants revenge, with all due respect,” Hearn said on the DAZN Boxing Show, when speaking about a fight with Dmitry Bivol. “Like I said, we’ve got a lot of irons in the fire here where we have to do what’s best for a number of fighters, you know. Beterbiev-Bivol is one of the best fights in boxing.”
With Artur Beterbiev being more than likely mandated to fight Callum Smith next to defend his WBC light heavyweight title, and Bivol potentially facing Canelo in the fall. We are looking at a world in which the soonest we could see the dream light heavyweight unification bout between Dmitry Bivol and Artur Beterbiev would be 2024…
“Make no mistake, make no mistake, the best 175-pounder in the room right now is Dmitry Bivol,” Hearn furthered. “Unquestionable. … Of course, it’s my opinion. I don’t care if he’s (Beterbiev) unified, I’m telling you who’s the best. It’s Dmitry Bivol. I rate Artur Beterbiev, he’s a brilliant fighter to watch. So exciting.”
As for the Canelo 2023 plan, per Hearn, it is listed below.
“Like I said, Canelo’s plan is to fight John Ryder and Dmitry Bivol,” Hearn said. “I spoke with Eddy Reynoso last night. We’re looking at possible venues, obviously there are other fights for Canelo Alvarez. We’re planning with Eddy and Saul [fights for] this year and next year. Obviously, you have [Caleb] Plant-[David] Benavidez [168-pound bout] coming up. I know Edgar Berlanga is making a lot of noise. If he can get a couple of big wins, I think that’s a big fight against Canelo Alvarez as well. The priority is May against the mandatory John Ryder and moving towards Dmitry Bivol for undisputed at 168.”
