Dmitry Bivol isn’t in Las Vegas to make up the numbers.
That should be obvious, but as we start becoming numb to ticking off Canelo Alvarez’s victims one-by-one over the past few years, it’s easy to see how easily a fighter can slip into the role of underdog.
“I’m here to defend my title,” Bivol tells me from deep inside the maze of the MGM Grand. “I don’t feel like a guest here like many opponents may have.”
It’s something I touched on in the aftermath to Canelo’s Dec. 2020 win over Callum Smith, where the world-class Briton was made to feel like a competition winner amongst the pomp and ceremony inside the Alamodome in San Antonio.
But the steely eyes of Bivol (19-0, 11 KO) tell a different story to the glazed and overawed pupils of Smith, and it’s easy to argue that the Russian is well-positioned to hand Canelo his hardest fight since his first of two against Gennadiy Golovkin.
The 31-year-old convinces me that the Mexican has a “number of weaknesses” he can exploit — without directly specifying, of course — and as Canelo makes his second jump up into light heavyweight waters, Bivol’s technical schooling may provide the path to an unlikely victory, as opposed to the natural size and weight disparity.
Bivol’s path to victory is unlikely to come via a trade-off on the inside with Canelo. The Mexican’s habit of starting relatively slowly and then springing into life off of something of a standing start is one that Bivol will need to be wary of, and attempting to control the fight from the back foot, quelling Canelo’s razor-sharp advances, will surely be a tactic in the opening rounds.
