Canelo Álvarez continues to think that he is better than Dmitry Bivol and that is why he wants to fight him again, to show that he was not 100 percent when they locked horns, due to the hand injury.
“That’s my goal (the rematch with Bivol),” Canelo said in an interview for the Big Fight Weekend podcast. “Everyone knows that’s my goal. At the same weight (175 pounds), in the same place, keep everything the same”.
When Canelo was asked why he is so focused on a rematch with the Russian champion, he explains that he wasn’t his 100% when they squared off last year.
“As far as I know,” answered Canelo, “I know I wasn’t 100 percent in that fight fight. And because I know I’m better than him.”
Canelo claims that his hand was injured when he fought Bivol and that this was a factor. Now that he has undergone surgery to correct the injury, and that he feels good, he wants a rematch to prove that point.
“Yes, and also I had four fights in 11 months, and my hand got worse, very bad,” Canelo went on. “As a fighter I thought it was okay, one more fight. I couldn’t train 100 percent. That’s why I need to show that I’m better than him.”
After the trilogy fight against longtime rival Gennady Golovkin in September 2022, Canelo had revealed that he had a left hand wrist injury, and that is why he had to undergo surgery.
“It hurts a lot, really,” he said at the time. “I’ve had this problem since the Caleb Plant fight , it hit me hard against Bivol and I need surgery. The hand is not broken, but I think it is the wrist that has been causing these problems and will probably need surgery next week.”
Canelo underwent surgery at the end of October, and it was reported that the injury was a tear of the triangular fibrocartilage complex, which affects the wrist and causes pain, with a rehabilitation time of 6 to 12 weeks, after surgery.
