Jamel Herring thinks Canelo Alvarez could opt to move up to 175 to challenge Artur Beterbiev for his undisputed championship after watching his lackluster performance beat Dmitry Bivol last Saturday night in Riyadh.
Herring says Beterbiev (21-0, 20 KOs) didn’t look like his old monster self, who was outboxed in periods of the fight before eventually winning a 12-round majority decision. The results were not well received by many fans, who insist that Bivol should have won.
Canelo will be confident
Herring thinks Canelo will be confident after watching that fight. He saw Beterbiev looking slow, not throwing many punches and coming close to losing to Bivol (23-1, 12 KOs).
Jamel believes that Canelo may want to go for the fight to add to his legacy. He previously discussed wanting to fight Bivol in a rematch to avenge his 12-round unanimous decision loss to him on May 7, 2022.
If His Excellency Turki Alalshikh would be open to letting Canelo retire before the Beterbiev-Bivol rematch, he could face Beterbiev next for all the gold. The winner of the Canelo vs. Beterbiev fight could then face Bivol if he is interested.
This will make things more interesting to the public than seeing an immediate rematch between Bivol and Beterbiev, because we just saw them fight, and we know how the second match will play out. In other words, Bivol will move a lot, jab, throw quick combos and probably hold a lot.
Is Beterbiev slowing down?
Bivol is not going to want to fight Beterbiev in the second fight because he showed last Saturday night that he cannot handle his power. In the 12th, Bivol held on to effectively neutralize Beterbiev’s offensive. Canelo won’t fight Beterbiev like that because he’s an entertainer and will make it exciting for the fans, even if it means getting knocked out.
“I thought about it after the performance because I thought Beterbiev might slow down a little bit,” Jamel Herring said. Battle hype when asked about the possibility of Canelo Alvarez challenging Artur Beterbiev for his undisputed light heavyweight championship.
“Let’s be real. Fighters see this, and it can be a weakness. So, maybe Canelo does flirt with the idea, especially if it’s for the idea of being uncontested in a different weight division,” Herring said.
It’s not just Canelo who will fancy his chances in a fight against Beterbiev. We have already heard that Anthony Yarde and Edgar Berlanga now want to fight Beterbiev. These are just two of the names. A lot more than that will want to fight him now because he didn’t look good, and neither did Bivol, who buckled under the pressure in the later part of the fight.
“We’re seeing a lot of fighters go uncontested in not just one weight class, but multiple weight classes,” Herring said. “So, I could see adding the legacy for Canelo to flirt with the idea of arguably going up against an older Beterbiev in a different weight division if he doesn’t face the Bivol fight in the rematch.”
Canelo can throw his hat in the ring now, and Turki might be willing to give him the Beterbiev fight next. He would have to say something now, though, because if he waited, it would be too late. Turki will have already lined up the Beterbiev vs. Bivol rematch.
“I think the activity hurt Canelo a lot in their fight (with Bivol),” Herring said. “Beterbiev sometimes fights at a certain speed. It could be bad. Canelo does have one of the best chins in the game. He does have defense. I think Canelo could flirt with the idea. This guy is not Superman like we thought he was. Bivol is just a monster himself. It’s not as if Beterbiev has fallen.”
Beterbiev couldn’t afford to give away the first five rounds against Canelo like he did against Bivol. If Beterbiev is going to take time to figure Canelo out mentally, he’ll have to do it much faster than he did against Bivol because he’ll fall too far behind to catch up.
“Sometimes fighters feel like, ‘Okay, he’s still up to it.’ I think Bivol said Canelo punches harder (than Beterbiev). Of course fighters take it in. ‘Maybe I punch harder than him,'” Herring said of Canelo possibly looking at Beterbiev now. .
