Canelo Alvarez’s first fight of the year will see the reigning undisputed super middleweight champion returning to light heavyweight to take on WBA (Super) champion Dmitry Bivol, but according to Eddie Hearn, the bout was originally proposed to be at 171lb catchweight, which the British promoter claims both Canelo and his trainer Eddy Reynoso rejected, along with disfavoring a rehydration clause.
Eddie Hearn believes Canelo Alvarez “could’ve had a catchweight real easy”
Back in November 2019, prior to starting his domination at 168, Canelo Alvarez (57-1-2, 39 KOs) made his light heavyweight debut against Sergei Kovalev and defeated the Russian to clinch the WBO belt at 175, before vacating the title and going down to super middleweight. Now, the 31-year-old Mexican will be making a return to the division and is set to take on the reigning WBA titleholder Dmitry Bivol (19-0, 11 KOs) on 7th May at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Eddie Hearn, who praised Bivol to be “an outstanding champion in his absolute prime”, as well as the “best 175-pounder” for Canelo, recently revealed on the DAZN Boxing Show that the Mexican superstar, along with his trainer Eddy Reynoso discarded the idea of making the Bivol fight a 171lb catchweight bout.
“Canelo could’ve had a catchweight real easy. Bivol would’ve accepted anything 171-lbs+,” said Hearn, “Canelo and Eddy [Reynoso] said, ‘No catchweight. If this is for the 175-lb world title, that’s the way it’s going to be.’ And rehydration clause doesn’t exist.” [H/T Boxingnews24.com]
The upcoming title clash against Bivol is one of three times Canelo will be seen in action this year for which, the pound for pound king has undergone a remarkable body transformation, bulking up before his return to 175.
🔜 May 7 💪 @Canelo | #CaneloBivol pic.twitter.com/YFTNuujrTp
— Matchroom Boxing (@MatchroomBoxing) March 31, 2022
The Bivol fight will be followed by the highly anticipated trilogy bout against unified middleweight world champion Gennadiy Golovkin, which is targeted for September and will see Canelo defending his undisputed crown against his longtime rival “GGG”.
Furthermore, the third fight for Canelo in 2022 is set to take place in December and even though the opponent isn’t confirmed yet, Hearn last month named former WBA interim super middleweight titleholder John Ryder as a probable option for Canelo, as well as the winner of Joshua Buatsi vs Craig Richards, the all-British light heavyweight encounter targeted for May 21st.
