Saul "Canelo" Alvarez has vowed to pursue a rematch with Dmitrii Bivol at light-heavyweight if he overcomes John Ryder on May 6.
The Mexican, 32, defends his IBF, WBA, WBC and WBO super-middleweight titles at Estadio Akron, Zapopan, and then hopes to avenge only his second defeat.
Alvarez responded to his one-sided defeat by Russia's Bivol, for the WBA light-heavyweight title in Las Vegas last May, by returning to 168lbs to similarly convincingly defeat Gennady Golovkin, and after surgery on his left hand returns against Ryder in his home country.
He perhaps remains a more lucrative opponent for Bivol than Bivol's fellow Russian Artur Beterbiev, but instead of echoing his promoter Eddie Hearn's suggestions of a rematch at 168lbs that could potentially trouble Bivol, Alvarez told Fight Hub TV: "Everyone knows the rematch with Bivol is my goal, but we'll see. We need to pass this fight first and then start talking about the fight with Bivol.
"Everyone said the same thing [about me being a big favourite] when I fought Bivol. You never know in boxing. It’s supposed to be that way, but you never know. I’m going to train 100 per cent, and don’t be so confident."
Asked at what weight he'd like to fight Bivol, Alvarez, whose only other defeat came against Floyd Mayweather in 2013, then responded: "175 because I feel I need to do in that terms. Right now my goal now is Bivol, and then we’ll see what happens, but if the fight with Bivol doesn’t happen, then we’ll look at other things."
Hearn was asked about Oscar De La Hoya's criticism of Ryder as an opponent, and said: "He needs to look at his own matchmaking. Particularly Jaime Munguia; absolutely horrific and embarrassing. If you want to look at Canelo’s résumé and criticise, you’re a complete idiot."
