Former WBC cruiserweight champion, Tony Bellew, has made his prediction for a potential rematch between Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez and Dmitry Bivol.
Dmitry Bivol pulled off one of the upsets of the year in 2022, defeating pound-for-pound king, Canelo Alvarez, by unanimous decision.
Since that victory, Bivol has gone on to beat the previously undefeated Gilberto Ramirez and cement himself as a pound-for-pound star himself, as well as many peoples’ fighter of the year.
The Russian has now set his sights on becoming undisputed in the 175lb division and looks set to fight unified champion, Artur Beterbiev, in 2023, providing he gets past Anthony Yarde at the end of the month.
In the mean time, Bivol has threatened to move down to the 168lb division for a rematch with Canelo, a suggestion that the Mexican does not entertain because he would rather challenge for Bivol’s light heavyweight belts for a second time. Still, if the matter of weight can be worked out, running it back looks likely.
Bellew admitted that Bivol deserves awards for both Fighter of the Year and Upset of the Year. Despite that though, on the DAZN Boxing Show 2022 Awards Show he pointed out that he would favour Canelo to avenge his defeat if the fight were to take place in the super-middleweight division.
“No one was putting their house on Bivol beating Canelo Alvarez. That is why he is the Fighter of the Year. He defeated the main man in boxing. I’m not going to lie, I think if they was to have a rematch, I would favour Canelo.”
“Bivol has gone right up in my estimations, but no one is beating Canelo at 168lb. No one.”
Announcements are expected soon as to the two fighters’ plans for the next twelve months.