By: Hans Themistode
Eddie Hearn is a staunch and firm believer in the talent of Canelo Alvarez.
The immensely gifted pound-for-pound star has walked through his competition no matter what division he’s competed in. During the last 12 months, more or less, Alvarez has stripped every 168-pound world titlist of their championship status.
In December of 2020, Alvarez easily outpointed Callum Smith to win his WBA and Ring Magazine titles, as well as the vacant WBC belt. From there, Alvarez violently ended the title reigns of Billy Joe Saunders and Caleb Plant, while sandwiching a third-round knockout win over Avni Yildirim in-between.
With all four world titles in his possession, Alvarez will now try his hand at 175 pounds. The Mexican superstar will take on Dmitry Bivol on May 7th, with the hopes of snagging his WBA title in the process.
Although Alvarez has opened up as a sizable favorite in the betting market, Eddie Hearn believes that conquering the undefeated Bivol is a monumental task.
“As good as Canelo is, I think this is a really tough, dangerous fight,” said Hearn to a group of reporters. “Moving up to 175 is a disadvantage unquestionably. But to do it against a young light heavyweight in his prime, he’s undamaged.”
Even with Bivol coming in as the bigger man, Alvarez won’t be a complete fish out of water. In November of 2019, Alvarez boldly opted to move up two divisions to take on then WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev.
In the end, while Kovalev proved to be tricky, Alvarez found the fight-ending shot in the 11th, leaving Kovalev slumped over the middle ropes and officially closing the curtains on their contest. Ultimately, Alvarez’s win, in Hearn’s opinion, was impressive but it shouldn’t be used as a measuring stick for how he’ll do for his second light heavyweight trip.
Throughout most of Kovalev’s career, although he was once a pound-for-pound stalwart, he bickered back and forth with his former trainer John David Jackson and dealt with legal issues as well as an alcohol addiction. Couple his outside of the ring matters with his age, 36 at the time, and Hearn is firmly of the belief that in the case of Alvarez’s fight with a 31-year-old Bivol, things could play out entirely differently.
“It’s not like it’s Kovalev who lived a bad life and is getting a bit old. This is a prime light heavyweight so, I worry about the Bivol fight. It’s a really tough fight.”