Canelo Álvarez will face Dmitry Bivol on May 7 in one of the most difficult and physically challenging fights of his career, as he will again have to gain weight to 175 pounds and measure himself with an undefeated champion.
In the midst of the sea of speculation around his possible rivals and the Gennady Golovkin stage set for September, the Mexican fighter will have to spend all his concentration on first defeating Bivol, who has been responsible for making his presence known and displacing Canelo with a possible “surprise”.
The one who drove this speech was his coach Gennady Mashianov, who from the outset pointed out that his pupil is in the best moment and that the fight against tapatio could surprise the entire Canelo Team.
“I hope he will be surprised by many things, because I think he has never faced someone with the skill set that Dmitry has on the ring,” he said during an interview for Little Giant Boxing on YouTube, where he was asked about the type of strategy he could implement on the Mexican.
“I can't give you details, but Dmitry has the skills to fight and follow a plan. The number one priority is the clash of styles so that people can enjoy this fight. I think we have enough time, everything is in order and Dmitry is at his best. He wants the public to enjoy it and really see the high level of boxing,” said Mashianov through a translator.
When questioned about the number of fans who will support Saul Alvarez at the T-Mobile in Las Vegas, the Russian strategist highlighted Bivol's calm at critical moments and ruled out any kind of influence.
“That doesn't really bother him, he never thinks much about a fight until the night of the fight on the ring. He's a guy who's always calm, outside or inside the ring. For this fight we expect the whole crowd to support Canelo, we even see something that the judges could be on Canelo's side, you know, but that doesn't matter for Dmitry,” said Gennady.
In addition, during the interview with Giant Little Boxing, Gennady Mashianov wanted to emphasize the size of the fight for Bivol, as it will be the day that they meet him in much of the world and where he will be able to generate a large fan base.
For this very reason, he decided to launch a controversial invitation for boxing fans to pay attention to the fight and not to the judges' cards, because from there they will be able to find the real winner of the match.
“I think it will have more fans after the fight, now that everyone will be watching it, but I also want to tell all the specialists who follow and love boxing, not to see the cards, but to see the fight,” said the experienced coach, who has been leading Dmitry Bivol's career since his amateur era.
The fight will take place on Saturday, May 7 in Las Vegas, Nevada. In Mexico it will be broadcast on open television through TV Azteca and Televisa, while in the United States it will be broadcast on the streaming platform DAZN, the company that has worked hand in hand with Canelo in recent months, especially because of its relationship with the promoter of Eddy Hearn, Matchroom Boxing.
KEEP READING: