With Canelo Alvarez officially set to face Gennadiy Golovkin in a long-awaited trilogy match on Sept. 17, one big question in the boxing world is what WBA light heavyweight titleholder Dmitry Bivol will do next, following his win over Canelo three weeks ago.
Canelo (57-2-2, 39 KO) will be defending his undisputed super middleweight championship against Golovkin (42-1-1, 37 KO) in September, and Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn says he has already spoken with Bivol’s team about the potential for a Canelo rematch in May 2023.
“Canelo wants to fight Bivol again, and he obviously wants to fight GGG, as well. Thinking about the timing for the GGG fight, this was the moment. There was really only one time to fight GGG and it was in September,” Hearn told the DAZN Boxing Show this week.
“We spoke to Bivol and his team, we’re working toward the rematch for that fight on Cinco De Mayo (weekend) next year. Canelo, there’s no way he won’t take that fight, it’s a fight that he’s desperate to avenge.”
Bivol (20-0, 11 KO) certainly won’t want to just sit around and wait for that and then several more months to go by, and the plan right now is for him to defend his WBA 175 lb belt in the fall, too.
And Bivol has also stated repeatedly that a huge goal for him is to go for the undisputed championship at light heavyweight. Artur Beterbiev and Joe Smith Jr will be fighting for the division’s other three belts on June 18, and Hearn was asked if Bivol might try to fight the winner of that bout.
“Possibly. He’s going to be fighting around September or October, so we know that Beterbiev and Joe Smith are fighting in June, so Dmitry Bivol could even look at the undisputed fight later in the year with us,” Hearn said, before offering other ideas in addition.
“Joshua Buatsi just won (last) weekend, that’s a fight we’d be very interested to make. You’ve got Callum Smith there. So we’ve got plenty of options for him in terms of voluntary defenses.
“He wants to become undisputed, but at the same time, he wants the (Canelo) rematch, because that rematch is going to make him a hell of a lot of money. That’s one of the biggest fights in boxing. He’s in a great position.”
