By Craig Daly: Eddie Hearn says he’ll be meeting with Canelo Alvarez and his trainer/manager Eddie Hearn this week to decide between Dmitry Bivol & Gennadiy Golovkin for his September 17th fight on DAZN PPV.
Although Canelo & Reynoso have already reached a decision between them on who their next opponent will be, Matchroom Boxing Hearn needs to hear it for himself, and, of course, he’ll want to give his own choice if it differs from theirs.
Hearn wants Golovkin for Canelo
Matchroom boss Hearn has already made up his mind that he wants Canelo (57-2-2, 39 KOs) to fight the trilogy match with Golovkin (42-1-1, 37 KOs) because he feels it’s still the biggest fight in boxing despite the four years since the two fought.
One benefit of Canelo delaying the rematch with Bivol is that it gives the Mexican star time to improve his game. Canelo is a great fighter but doesn’t possess the stamina, work rate, combination punching, jab, or mobility to beat him.
These are basic things that top-tier fighters are supposed to possess, but surprisingly, Canelo doesn’t possess them. With the rematch with Bivol being pushed to December or May of next year, it’ll give Canelo time to work on these flaws in his game.
“This week is moving week for us to sit down with Saul and Eddy Reynoso and say, ‘What do we want to do?’ Personally, I’m happy with either,” said Eddie Hearn to DAZN Boxing Show on Canelo Alvarez, deciding this week which opponent he’ll fight next.
“The GGG fight is still probably the biggest fight in boxing. The Bivol fight is so dangerous, so tricky — Canelo would go into the Bivol fight an underdog for the first time in his career.”
If Canelo & Reynoso decide to take the rematch with Bivol in September, they’re going to need to take a crash course in learning the basic tools of the trade if they want to have any shot at winning. Canelo is a bit up there in age for him to be lacking jab and mobility.
Canelo needs massive improvements
As long as Canelo realizes that he’s got little chance of beating Bivol, apart from scoring a knockout or a controversial decision, he should take the immediate rematch. If he’s serious about wanting to win the fight, he needs to push the rematch with Bivol into next year in May or September.
The danger for Canelo in pushing the rematch into next year is that Bivol could lose to the Artur Beterbiev vs. Joe Smith Jr. winner or in his defense against his WBA mandatory Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez.
Bivol isn’t going to sit and wait for an entire year for his rematch with Canelo without fighting once or twice. He’s going to keep fighting, and he’ll be facing quality opposition. We won’t see Bivol fight a 40-year-old, that’s for sure.
“You go back to the GGG fight, before the Bivol fight when we were talking about Canelo-GGG, it was, like, ‘That’s an easy fight for Canelo now,’ and you feel like if Canelo Alvarez would’ve beaten Bivol, he would’ve been a huge favorite going into that fight,” said Hearn.
“Now, remarkably, there are question marks over Canelo Alvarez. ‘Could GGG beat him in the trilogy?’ That fight becomes a bit more competitive,” said Hearn.
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