Via Sean Jones: WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol believes his boxing skills and sky-high IQ will see him win on May 7 against challenger Canelo Alvarez on DAZN pay-per-view.
The price of the fight has yet to be revealed by DAZN or promoter Eddie Hearn, but it will probably be in the $75 limit.
Bivol (19-0, 11 KOs) researched Canelo’s past fights from his fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr in 2013 and he discovered areas in his game where he could exploit.
Location is one thing that 31-year-old Russian talent Bivol will put up against him in a fight with Canelo (57-1-2, 39 KOs). Team Canelo chose T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
It was also where Canelo fought in both his match with Gennadiy Golovkin and his match against Erislandy Lara.
You could argue that Canelo should have lost those three games at T-Mobile, but somehow the referees didn’t give him a score.
Bivol has the kind of skill that can make this fight so one-sided that the judges at T-Mobile Arena this time will get it right.
Bivol says his skills will be crucial to defeating Canelo
“Some people think those battles aren’t going the way I want and aren’t the kind of opponent I want, but they definitely helped me fight this one, and I’ll be at my best, and I will be ready on May 7 to perform and do my best,” Dmitry Bivol in his recent two lackluster matches against Umar Salamov and Craig Richards.
“I live in Russia, and I came here [to the U.S] Bivol said.
“Because I always believe in my skills When I go out into the ring, I believe I can beat my opponent,” said Bivol when asked WHY he thinks he can beat Canelo. “Why, I can’t beat him?
“Of course he has a lot of fun and that makes him better than me in the media, but he’s still a man and fights at a lower level than me,” Bivol said of the human star. Mexico.
“He has good strength, but I also have strength,” Bivol said of Canelo. “He has skills, but my skills are also good.”
The Kryptonite to defeat Canelo is a combo punch, body shot, stabbing and a super fast paced fight. It has been proven that you cannot defeat Canelo by diving in alone.
The judges did not seem to be grading rounds based on stoning for Canelo. For that reason, Bivol will need to use his shot to establish coordination and body shots.
More important than anything, Bivol had to force Canelo to fight every second without giving him the necessary days off. In terms of cardio, Canelo is a six-round boxer.
Canelo will explode after four rounds if Bivol can push at a dizzying pace and spend the final eight rounds with his back against the ropes as we saw in his first fight with Gennady Golovkin and match against Austin Trout.
Dmitry explains why the knockout is exhausted
Bivol has failed to knock out his last six opponents since 2018 and some believe he has lost his punch. The real reason for Bivol’s dry story is that he’s no longer fighting against lower-level opposition like he did earlier in his career from 2014 to early 2018.
For an example of the kind of opposition that Bivol was knocked down early in his career, here are his last six knockout victims:
Sullivan Barrera
Cedric Agnew
Samuel Clarkson
Robert Berridge
Cleiton Conceição
Jackson Junior
“I think the opponents have changed,” Bivol said of why he hasn’t scored a knockout in his last six fights since 2018. “Some opponents don’t want to win when they do. Come to the ring with me.
“Some opponents are difficult to play, but I don’t think about ending the game with a knockout because if you think about it, you don’t have your synergies, your defenses and your plans.
“You just have to show in the ring what you do in training. Yeah, of course, I’ve been watching them since he fought Floyd Mayweather,” Bivol said when asked if he watched many of Canelo’s fights.
“It’s hard to point to one battle, but I’ve pointed out things from all his battles here and there,” Bivol said when asked what he’s learned from watching competitions before. This is from Canelo. “He is sometimes different in certain fights, more aggressive and more athletic.
“In other matches, he tries to box more. From all the fights I’ve seen, I’ve pulled out a few things that I think are important to keep in mind when fighting him are to use and give your best in the fight.
“First of all, I am not Sergey Kovalev. I’m a different fighter than Sergey,” Bivol said when asked, “what would you do differently from Sergey Kovalev? ”
“I talked to Sergey and he said ‘I don’t have enough time to prepare’ [for the Canelo fight in 2019]. After seven rounds, he just felt empty, and I thought about that and got to work on this,” Bivol said.
Bivol prepare mentally
Bivol must prepare himself for the battle with Canelo by studying the obvious mistakes that the Mexican star’s opponent has made over the past 4 years.
It’s easy to see what mistakes Canelo’s recent rivals Caleb Plant, Billy Joe Saunders and Callum Smith have made.
For example, Saunders often leaned forward with his hands at his sides during his battle with Canelo last May.
That careless fighting style only works with young and quick-reaction boxers like Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Roy Jones Jr. when they were at the peak of their careers.
The last thing the senile-injured Saunders was supposed to do against Canelo was lean forward with his arms at his sides.
Another recent opponent of Canelo, Callum Smith, spent the entire fight on covered ropes, like a second-rate fighting partner.
Although Eddie Hearn has talked a lot about how he feels Callum is the best super middleweight on the planet when it comes to the fight, the reality is that he exposed as fake in his earlier fight against John Ryder.
Callum fought as a competitive partner because he was never good, in the first place, and should have earned his title as a 168-lb WBA champion that ended in a bout against Ryder. in November 2019.
“Me too, I respect him, of course,” Bivol said when told that Canelo said he had a lot of respect for him.
“Yes, of course, he is the best opponent [that Bivol will have faced during his eight-year career] because the whole world knows him, and he has proven that he is one of the best.
“He has a belt in four divisions. Of course, I respect him. If I don’t respect him, it would be stupid to go to the ring and fight him.
“The mental game is very important in general because you can do a lot of preparation, combination and planning, but if you don’t believe you’re going to win, there’s a 40% chance you’ll actually win the fight,” says Bivol. .
“In terms of press conferences and stuff, in fact, the most important part is what happens in the ring. I believe my spirit is my personal that I have to take care and prepare mentally, and in terms of PR and preparation, that’s not the point.
“The important part is getting in with the right mental state and believing in yourself.
“I have an undisputed goal of becoming the champion and if this win gives me another chance to fight for another belt,” Bivol said when asked “what will victory over Canelo mean for me?” with him?”
“Of course, more people will know me. Something like that,” Bivol said of what it means to beat superstar Canelo.
It’s good that Bivol doesn’t put so much emphasis on press conferences because the last thing we need is to make him angry Canelo attack him the way the Mexican star did against Caleb Plant.
Canelo needs to wait until the game actually starts to shoot, because we can’t let either of these two get injured before that.
What Plant showed in his kick-off press conference with Canelo last September is that he has thin skin and can’t stand being criticized.
