Mexican superstar Saul “Canelo” Alvarez has clarified that he wants the rematch with Dmitry Bivol to take place in the same division as their first encounter – the light heavyweight limit of 175-pounds.
Back in May, Bivol outboxed Canelo over twelve rounds to secure a dominant twelve round unanimous decision.
In the aftermath, Canelo dropped back to the super middleweight limit of 168-pounds to retain his undisputed crown in a trilogy fight with Gennadiy Golovkin in September.
Canelo wants to make another defense in May, before pursuing a rematch with Bivol in September.
There had been some talk of Canelo making Bivol drop down to 168 to fight for the WBO, WBA, IBF, WBC titles at super middleweight.
However, Canelo states that he wants another crack at capturing Bivol’s belt.
“Same weight, that’s it”, Canelo said in an interview with La Saga, according to Izquierdazo. “Of course I can win. It’s not a matter of belief, it’s because I know I can. That is my priority now”.
Very recently, Mexican legend Julio Cesar Chavez advised Canelo to avoid a rematch with Bivol, because he might lose again.
“I have respect for Chavez,” replied Canelo. “I will always respect him. The champion knows that, but in the end, it’s not a matter of what he wants.”
Canelo states that he’s focused on that rematch because he feels he was not 100% in the first fight. He recently underwent surgery for a wrist injury, that he says had hindered him in properly preparing for Bivol.
“That is something I want to do, and I know I can win,” Canelo said. “Because I know how I went into that fight, I know what I can do, and what I will do. I couldn’t do things properly, because I didn’t train as I wanted to. Because of my (injured) hand and all that.
“I lacked one or two rounds to win. I was highly competitive. Since I couldn’t have a proper training camp, I won the early rounds and then began to get tired. At the end, I’m sure I didn’t give my 100%, and he did. He (Bivol) can’t give anything more, and I can.”
This content was originally published here.
