Light heavyweight titleholder Dmitry Bivol and his manager Vadim Kornilov spends time talking to Marcos Villegas of Fight Hub TV about mapping out their future, having difficulty securing an opponent, and why they’re not counting on getting a rematch against Canelo Alvarez. Check out some of what they had to say below.
Bivol on how be ranks a rematch against Canelo at 168 to an undisputed fight with Beterbiev at 175
“I didn’t take as serious, to be honest, too much about Canelo because it was only talking. It was just words, words. I have my own way. Of course it’s better to fight in my own weight class for four belt. But if they want rematch, it’s not Canelo just talking; we need to do some moves and we know who needs to do some moves. It’s not me because I’m ready to fight.
“But I don’t care about it too much. I’m just focused on my weight class right now. And against Beterbiev it’s a great fight to be honest. For me as an athlete, I see him as a great fighter. He’s a very big puncher, he’s the most biggest puncher in boxing today, not only in light heavyweight class. For me it’s interesting to check my skills against opponent like him.”
On if he was impressed by Canelo’s performance against Charlo
“To be honest I didn’t see all fight. I saw couple rounds and what I saw I expected. I expect that he will push him but I didn’t expect that Charlo will not confident too much. He wasn’t confident at to be honest, what I saw — just my personal opinion. And Canelo won, we expected it.”
On Canelo believing he’s unbeatable at 168 now that he’s 100% healthy
“To be honest I didn’t see something new (against Charlo)…maybe I’m wrong but it’s my opinion. He didn’t show something new, some combinations…he was using the weapons how he was using before. Maybe inside he felt more confident but from outside I couldn’t see (improvements). But he had a great job against Ryder and against Charlo.”
On what needs to happen to make a rematch with Canelo
Vadim Kornilov (Bivol’s manager): “As far as the rematch with Canelo, what needs to happen is Canelo has to be in a corner and have no other choice except for fighting Bivol, because I don’t think he will ever do it unless he has no choice. I think Bivol is the very last boxer he would want to fight again, or fight at all.”