Gennadiy Golovkin showed class last Saturday night, congratulating Dmitry Bivol (20-0, 11 KOs) for the successful defense of his WBA light heavyweight title by defeating Canelo Alvarez (57-2-2, 39 KOs) by a 12 round unanimous decision in Las Vegas.
Bivol totally schooled Canelo, appearing to win by a much bigger margin than the embarrassingly bad scores of 115-113 x 3 turned in by the three Nevada judges that worked the fight.
Many boxing fans had Canelo only winning two rounds, and even then, they were close.
Golovkin’s long-awaited trilogy with Canelo, 31, was upended by his defeat against Bivol, wrecking their plans on meeting in September on DAZN PPV.
Instead of Golovkin getting his third fight with Canelo that he’s been waiting for since 2018, Bivol will be facing the Mexican star in a rematch.
Canelo already alerted his boxing fans & media that he wants an immediate rematch with Bivol next, which means Golovkin will need to wait for the smoke to clear from that fight before he learns if he has a shot at facing the Mexican star in December or next May.
If Canelo loses the rematch with Bivol, it’s unclear whether he’d still be interested in fighting Golovkin. It would depend on whether Canelo wants to continue his career.
Assuming Bivol beats Canelo in an even more decisive manner than he did last Saturday, it’s fair to say it might be too much for his pride to handle, and he could retire.
“I have a message to people that bet on me today, who won. Congratulations, guys,” said Dmitry Bivol at the post-fight press conference last Saturday night following his upset win over 4:1 favorite Canelo Alvarez.
“Who didn’t believe in me, it’s just their opinion, and I appreciate it. They bet on Canelo, believed in Canelo, and it’s normal, you know? To be honest, no. I just beat the guy that wanted my belt, in my mind today, and he was a super middleweight,” said Bivol when asked if he believes he should be #1 pound-for-pound after his win over Canelo.
It’s difficult to picture Canelo doing any better in the rematch with Bivol, as there’s not much he can do differently due to his lack of size and his stamina problems.
The only thing that might help is if Canelo works on his cardio and loses some of the bulk that he added to his frame. That might help him fight harder without gassing so early in the rematch with Bivol.
Still, Canelo’s lack of size and his slow feet will be a hindrance against Bivol, no matter how well-conditioned he is in the second fight.
“Yes, he had a belt at light heavyweight [WBO from 2019], but I don’t feel like I’m the King today. I just beat Canelo; I’m better than him today,” said Bivol not making a big deal about his win over Canelo.
