Canelo Alvarez has stated that, as far as the 175-pound division goes, there is only one fight out there that he would “really take.” This is a return fight with Dmitry Bivol, who, as we know, won a 12-round unanimous decision over the Mexican star some time back, with plenty of fans having it wider for Bivol than the three judges had it.

Now, speaking with The Ring, Canelo says he’d like a rematch with Bivol, and he revealed how he was fighting at “50 percent” of his ability when he lost to Bivol, due to the injury he was carrying with his left hand.

Canelo says he was unable to do roadwork or spar properly due to the hand injury, and that as a result, he had poor physical conditioning that night.

Canelo says we can ask his sparring partner for the Bivol fight, Oleks Gvozdyk, if we don’t believe him.

“That’s the only fight at 175 that I’d really take, but we’ll see,” Canelo said of a return fight with Bivol. “I have 50 percent of my abilities right there. No condition, nothing, because I can’t run and I can’t throw like I do, and do pads and sparring. I had like one month with no sparring because of my hand [injury].”

So, if Canelo does box Bivol a second time, and if he WAS physically compromised the first time he fought the skilled Russian (and we have no cause to call Canelo a liar, although the question of why he didn’t pull out of the fight is a pretty good one) – can and will it be a different fight/outcome this time?

In the meantime, Canelo fights William Scull on May 3, in a 168-pound unification fight, while Bivol will next box in his trilogy fight with Artur Beterbiev. Who knows how much that fight could take out of Bivol? Can Canelo get his revenge over Bivol if he does fight him again?

It seems now that we can forever rule out Canelo agreeing to fight David Benavidez.