Tim Bradley thinks that Canelo Alvarez can make huge improvements in his game by learning from his loss to Dmitry Bivol last May and coming back with a retooled game to defeat Gennadiy Golovkin in September in their trilogy.
Bradley feels that Canelo (57-2-2, 39 KOs) has picked up some bad habits over the last couple of years by veering away from his counterpunching and the movement that he’d utilized earlier in his career to win fights.
What we’ve seen from Canelo in the last three years is a fighter that slowly walks his opponents down behind a high guard, and then nails them with single-power shots that he puts everything into.
It was only a matter of time before Canelo would meet up with a fighter with mobility, and combination punching to pick him apart as we saw in his embarrassing defeat against WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol (20-0, 11 KOs) on May 7th.
Bradley thinks Canelo has the intelligence to learn from his loss, and improve to once again dominate.
“That was the guy to give him fits because of his movement, but I didn’t have Bivol to pull the trigger and pick that dude to win because of everything that was going on with Russia and the whole bit,” said Tim Bradley to Fighthype about how he’d picked Canelo Alvarez to defeat Dmitry Bivol last month on May 7th.
“I wasn’t sure how he’d behave inside the ring and how he’d approach that level and be in that atmosphere,” Bradley continued about Bivol. “Obviously, he handled it with flying colors, and handled his game plan to a tee, executed it, and looked good.
“In the rematch, it doesn’t matter if it’s at 168, I just think Bivol is a bad style match-up for Canelo, to be honest with you. Canelo resorted to two things he’d normally do. He couldn’t penetrate that defense, hitting him on the shoulders, and doing everything he can to try and back up and detour this man, Bivol.
“Then he [Canelo] tried to lure him in and play defense on the ropes like he typically does, and that junk didn’t work. Canelo, he needs to go back to his moving and counter punching, using his jabs, and setting up his shots.
“That’s what he needs to add to his arsenal because he’s gotten away from that over the years because he’s been so successful in marching forward with that high guard.
“It’s not hard for a guy with the talent of Canelo Alvarez, it’s not hard at all to make those types of adjustments,” Bradley said when asked if it’s difficult to change the style of a fighter.
“This is a guy that is committed to the sport. It’s a switch up here. ‘I know I got to get better, I know I got to get better in this way so this won’t happen again.’
“He can fix that, no doubt. He’s got the skill set and the mentality to do so,” said Bradley.
