By Ian S Palmer
Unbeaten Dmitry Bivol of Russia will be defending his WBA Super World Light Heavyweight Title against Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez of Mexico this Saturday, May 7th. The 12-rounder from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada can be seen live in most nations on DAZN. Bivol last fought in December when he beat Umar Salamov by unanimous decision while Alvarez was in the ring in November when he stopped Caleb Plant in the 11th round to defend his WBC/WBA and WBO Super Middleweight Titles and add Plant’s IBF crown to the mix.
The 31-year-old Bivol was born in Kyrgyzstan and now fights out of California. He enjoyed an excellent amateur career with a reported record of 268-15 and won numerous national championships before turning pro in 2014. Since then he’s boxed 148 rounds and has compiled a perfect record of 19-0 with 11 Kos. He has pretty good power in his punches with a current knockout ratio of 57.9 per cent, but has gone the distance in his last six outings.
Bivol, who stands 6-feet tall with a 72-inch reach, owns smooth boxing skills and always seems to eventually wear his foes down with his heavy hands. He’s faced a few good opponents so far with wins over Lenin Castillo Joe Smith, Jean Pascal, Isaac Chilemba, Sullivan Barrera, Cedric Agnew, Robert Berridge and Felix Valera but is actually moving up in class this weekend. Bivol won the interim WBA Championship in May, 2016 when he beat Valera by a unanimous decision.
He was then elevated to full champion when Badou Jack gave up the WBA title after beating former champ Nathan Cleverly. He’d like to unify the light heavyweight titles and has already beaten current WBO champ Joe Smith Jr, but did so when Smith wasn’t the belt holder, so that leaves a potential fight with WBC and IBF champ Artur Beterbiev if he can get past Alvarez this weekend.
The 31-year-old Alvarez won his latest in a merry-go-round of titles in November when he took Caleb Plant’s super middleweight belt. Before that he beat Callum Smith by unanimous decision for the vacant WBC Super Middleweight Title as well as Smith’s WBA belt and then added the WBO title with his eight-round demolition of Billy Joe Saunders last May. However, he hasn’t been severely tested since his two highly-controversial bouts, a win and draw against Gennady Golovkin in 2017 and 2018.
Since those meetings with Triple G, he’s also beaten the likes of Rocky Fielding, Daniel Jacobs, Sergey Kovalev, and Avni Yildirim while stopping Fielding, Kovalev and Yildirim. Jacobs, Smith, Kovalev, Saunders and Plant were his toughest tests of that bunch and Alvarez didn’t really have too much trouble with any of them.
Alvarez owns a 57-1-2 record with 39 Kos with his only official loss being a majority decision to Floyd Mayweather in September, 2013. Besides his draw with Golovkin, he drew a four-round affair against Jorge Juarez back in 2006. Alvarez stands 5-feet-8-inches tall with a 70.5 inch reach which means he gives up four inches in height to Bivol as well as 1.5-inches in reach. He has a wealth of experience as he turned pro when he was just 15 years old in 2005 and has 436 rounds under his belt since.
He’s taken on and beaten several other tough opponents over the years such as Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., Amir Khan, Miguel Cotto, James Kirkland, Austin Trout, Erislandy Lara, Shane Mosley, Josesito Lopez, Kermit Cintron, Carlos Baldomir, and Alfredo Angulo. He’s also held world titles in the junior. middleweight, middleweight and and light heavyweight divisions as well as minor belts as a welterweight.
Alvarez has solid power and enters the fight with a current knockout ratio of 65 per cent with a granite chin and quick hands. He’s stopped his last three opponents but has gone the distance in five of his last 10 fights. Also, Golovkin, Mayweather, Lara and Khan to some degree, showed that Canelo can be outboxed in stages as he has difficulty handling a quick, stiff jab. Even so, Alvarez is an above-average boxer-puncher who likes to go to the body but has a bit of difficulty with opponents who are mobile.
Prediction…
Fans are never sure which version of Bivol will show up. At his best, he looks like a devastating puncher who can take anybody out but often looks lethargic while being forced to go the distance and doing just enough to win. Bivol seems to fight to the level of his opponent far too often but will have to be at his absolute best this weekend. Alvarez is considered by many to be the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world and even if you had him losing both fights to Golovkin he’s still one of the best out there. He may lack size, but that’s about it. He does everything well and when he does make a mistake his chin has bailed him out. However, he struggles slightly against mobile boxers with good movement. He’s heading back up to the 175 lb division here where he stopped Sergey Kovalev in 11 rounds 2019 in a fight that was very close on the scorecards. Bivol needs to use his size advantage to establish his jab, strike quickly and then get out of range of Alvarez’s counter shots while also smothering or neutralizing his power. That’s never as easy as it sounds though when Alvarez is pressing the action and cutting off the ring. A Bivol win or draw wouldn’t come as a shock but with the fight being in Vegas and having a chance to go the distance I’d place my money on Alvarez.
