Via Dan Ambrose: Canelo Alvarez has added former WBC light heavyweight champion Oleksandr Gvozdyk to his team as one of his competition partners to help him prepare for his title showdown with the champion. 175-lb . WBA enemy Dmitry Bivol on May 7 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
ESPN Deportes is reporting on Canelo (57-1-2, 39 KOs), adding talented Ukrainian Gvozdyk (17-1, 14 KOs) to get him ready for the formidable challenge of the undefeated Bivol ( 19-0, 11 KOs).
Gvozdyk has been retired for the past 2 and a half years since being stopped by the IBF light heavyweight champion Artur Betterbiev into the 10th round in October 2019. However, recently there were rumors that 34-year-old Gvozdyk would return.
The dedicated help Canelo will receive from Gvozyk could prove invaluable in helping him prepare for the Bivol, 31-year-old Russian. With that said, Gvozdyk’s fighting style is different from Bivol’s, so it’s unclear if he can help Canelo enough to win.
The main difference between Bivol and Gvozdyk is in the combined moving and punching fields. Bivol is a coordinated puncher and moves much better than Gvozdyk in his career.
One area where Gvozyk has a slight edge over Bivol is in the power department. Gvozyk has better strength than Bivol, but obviously, that didn’t help him when he went up against Beterbiev in 2019.
Notable victories of Gvozdyk:
- Adonis Stevenson
- Yunieski Gonzalez
- Mehdi Amar
- Isaac Chilemba
- Tommy Karpency
- Nadjib Mohammedi
- Otis Griffin
- Doudou Ngumbu
Gvozyk comes from after the 11th round knockout victory over the 41-year-old man Adonis ‘Superman’ Stevenson In December 2018, the tragic result was that Nampaw suffered a traumatic brain injury, ending his successful career.
Stevenson hurt Gvozyk in the ninth and tenth innings with big left-sides and appeared to be on his way to winning the eleventh as the Ukrainian unleashed 10 punches in a row, leaving Adonis in the middle of the game. knocked unconscious.
Another reason for Canelo to use Gvozdyk as one of his fighting partners could be to get valuable tips that he can use later when/if he challenges the IBF champion / WBC 175-lb Artur Beterbiev.
If Gennadiy Golovkin loses to Ryota Murata this Saturday and Canelo beats Bivol on May 7, the Mexican star will face off against the winner of the Beterbiev vs. Joe Smith Jr. in September. That’s what Canelo’s coach/manager Eddy Reynoso revealed this week.
Beterbiev struggled with Gvozdyk early on, but when he started attacking his body at the midpoint of the match, he quickly knocked him out with those shots. By the tenth minute, Gvozdyk was left with nothing and was knocked out by Beterbiev with a barrage of bullets.
Beterbiev will likely use a similar approach against Canelo if the two fight in September of this year. He will ignore Canelo’s head and focus on his midsection. All of the upper body movements Canelo learned from Floyd Mayweather Jr won’t help him dodge Beterbiev’s body shots.
Any way you look at it, Beterbievis is a lousy fit for Canelo. Beterbiev’s direct teamfights and focus on throw-ins will be a nightmare for Canelo. He has fitness issues and doesn’t handle body shots as well as headers.
There’s not much Gvozdyk can reveal to him to beat Beterbiev other than making sure he stays on his bike for all 12 laps.
With an undefeated Beterbiev (17-0, 17 KOs) likely to beat WBO champion Joe Smith Jr in their unification match this summer, it is likely that Canelo faces Russian Olympian Artur twice. September is a very good opportunity.
It is interesting that a lot of boxing fans are actively cheering for Murata to defeat Golovkin. Not that they are fans of Murata. The only thing that could stand in the way of that fight happening is Golovkin defeating Murata on Saturday.
They’d rather watch Canelo take on Beterbiev in September than 40-year-old Golovkin, who played it safe against a weaker opponent to keep a third chance with Canelo.
