Canelo Alvarez vs. Dmitry Bivol - Preview and prediction
Canelo Alvarez and Dmitry Bivol will fight on Saturday, May 7, at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Bivol is the current WBA Light Heavyweight Champion. Canelo, the Undisputed Super Middleweight Champion, previously moved up to claim the WBO Light Heavyweight belt from Sergey Kovalev in 2018.
The fight card on Saturday will also feature Scott Alexander vs. Zhilei Zhang, Montana Love vs. Gabriel Gollaz Valenzuela, and Shakhram Giyasov vs. Christian Gomez. A number of other fights will also be held at weight classes ranging from flyweight to middleweight.
Column: Is @Canelo Alvarez unbeatable? Dmitry Bivol will be the latest to try to slow the pound-for-pound king si.com/boxing/2022/05…
Canelo Alvarez vs. Dmitry Bivol preview
Canelo Alvarez is the number one pound-for-pound fighter in the world today. He has a record of 57-1-2 with 39 knockouts. He has wins over Gennadiy Golovkin, Shane Mosley, and Miguel Cotto, among others.
Dmitry Bivol is the WBA Light Heavyweight Champion. He has a current record of 19-0 with 11 wins coming by way of knockout. The Russian has wins over Joe Smith Jr. and Jean Pascal. His most recent bout was a win in December 2021 against Umar Salamov.
Alvarez is one of the most technically sound boxers in the world today. He is also a power puncher with incredible speed. In addition, his counterpunching is precise and accurate. As a result, he is an incredibly difficult opponent to outbox.
Bivol can’t allow Canelo to dictate when “nothing is happening” otherwise he’ll be punching on Canelo’s timing and his key weapon will be used against him. https://t.co/PFBeaONMvE
Alvarez won his first world title in 2011 after he beat Matthew Hatton for the vacant WBC Light Middleweight Title. He successfully defended it six times. In 2013, he challenged Floyd Mayweather Jr., losing by majority decision on the cards. The fight is his sole loss till date.
Bivol won an interim world title in 2016 by defeating Felix Valera. He was awarded the official WBA World Title in 2017 and defended it five times before being elevated to the WBA (Super) Light Heavyweight Champion in 2019. He has successfully defended the title three times.
Canelo Alvarez vs. Dmitry Bivol prediction
Alvarez is the betting favorite in the bout. The one advantage that Bivol seems to have over Alvarez is that he will be fighting in his natural weight class and is far more experienced in the division. However, Alvarez has previously competed at light heavyweight and has fought a number of larger opponents in recent years.
Canelo Alvarez (-450) is a sizable favorite at SI Sportsbook as he moves up in weight once again to take on undefeated WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol (+370) https://t.co/tROuVAuhsQ
Alvarez will likely dominate the fight, establish control of the ring and land draining combinations on his slower opponent. He will likely stop Bivol in the middle to late rounds of the fight.
Prediction: Alvarez by stoppage