Ryan Garcia is confident that Canelo Alvarez can defeat undefeated four-time lightweight champion Artur Beterbiev after watching his fight on Saturday night against Dmitry Bivol.
Garcia won’t say how the smaller 5’8″ Canelo (62-2-2, 39 KOs) could find a way to knock off the undisputed 175 lb. champion Beterbiev (21-0, 20 KOs) because he would give up a lot of size. in that fight.
In Canelo’s last fight against Edgar Berlanga, he dominated a fighter who had rehydrated 193 lbswhich is in the same ballpark as Beterbiev. Canelo showed in that fight that he could easily handle the size of a true light heavyweight. Berlanga looked massive inside the ring against Canelo and even bigger than Beterbiev.
Beterbiev’s slower hand speed and work rate will be manageable for Canelo, who has dealt with many faster fighters than him during his career. Canelo, 34, is five years younger than 39-year-old Beterbiev and should have more in the tank.
Interestingly, he never expressed a desire to fight Beterbiev, which is strange because he is a style that is better suited to fight than pure boxer Dmitry Bivol.
I think canelo beats arthur
— RYAN GARCIA (@RyanGarcia) October 13, 2024
“Look at the age. Look at the old man in Beterbiev. At the end of my career, I knew that my pace does not match that of anyone else,” Johnny Nelson said. Boxing King Media about Dmitry Bivol started early, getting the better of Artur Beterbiev in the first half of his fight.
“Beterbiev went at the same pace as he started and at the same pace that he finished. His pace did not change. Bivol came to a fast pace, and that is why he won the first half of the fight. What Beterbiev has done is stay consistent.”
Beterbiev picked up his pace a lot starting in the sixth and continued to fight at a faster pace as the fight went on. He didn’t stay at the same pace because if he did, Bivol would have continued to submit him like he did in rounds one through five. Beterbiev was throwing almost no punches in those early rounds, allowing Bivol to dominate because nothing was coming back.
“If they gave him a draw, I wouldn’t have complained. I think if they fight again, Bivol beats him well. I thought some of the scorecards were ridiculous, but that’s subjective,” Nelson said.
“Like Johnny said. If Beterbiev had come out and tried to sprint with Bivol in the first two rounds, he would have gassed because that’s what happens,” said trainer Dominic Ingle. “What he did was be calm all the way, and Bivol came in at a steady pace, and he pulled away.
I disagree with Ingle. If Beterbiev had come out early in the first half of the fight, he would have taken Bivol down that much faster and would have KO’d him. It was a mistake on Beterbiev’s part to start slow and let Bivol get a sizable early lead as he nearly mounted him to get a decision win.
Beterbiev cannot afford to start slow in the rematch, if there is one, because Bivol has already said that he wants to be moved more. In the rematch, Bivol will make it difficult for Beterbiev to get to him if he gets an early lead.
“Now if this was a video game. The heavy punches Beterbiev was throwing would have zapped his power source,” Ingle said. “Bivol is very good and a very skilled boxer to score. The judges will score on the weight of the punching. If someone touches and someone lands heavy shots. They will score for the heavier fighter.”
It wasn’t just the heavy shots Beterbiev was landing that the judges noticed. Bivol’s movement indicated that he did not want to engage and was trying not to be struck. When the judges saw this, they realized that Bivol could not withstand the power and pressure of Beterbiev. He was trying to get a quick win.
“I thought Bivol was going to throw him out and win, but you can see where there’s an argument because Beterbiev did (win),” Ingle said. “The shots he was landing were more damaging for Bivol, but Bivol is a very resilient fighter. It’s not surprising that out of all 20 fights that Beterbiev has had, he’s won them all. Now that he’s coming to a high-level fighter level as Bivol, went the distance.
“Bivol is not a massive puncher. He always beats everyone in points, more or less, and beats them on his boxing. The second time, Bivol will have a better idea of what to do because he was close, depending on what you like to see. Beterbiev drained Bivol’s energy sources. If it was a video game, he would have run out of energy against Beterbiev.”
Some of the heavy shots Beterbiev landed on Bivol in rounds seven and eight sapped the energy out of him and took away his will to fight. Bivol looks a lot like he did in his fight last December against Lyndon Arthur. She was injured in that fight and was on the defensive the entire second half. Bivol has shown in those two fights that he is not the guy who walks out on his shield. When you are injured, you put on the defense, get on your bike, and boxes. Stop throwing as much and play it safe.
“So you can see why Beterbiev won that fight. For me, I had Bivol winning the fight because I scored him for someone who was boxing and got out of the way,” Ingle said. “Even though the blows weren’t heavy, it seemed to me that Bivol had him in the trash. \
“If Beterbiev knocks him out, fair play. But to me, he’s the one who seems to dominate. To me, it looked like Bivol was ahead in a boxing fight,” Ingle said.
I would have said Bivol for a round or a draw,” Nelson said. “No,” Nelson said when asked if the result was a steal.
“They should do it again, and if it’s the same again, fair enough,” Ingle said of a Beterbiev vs. Bivol rematch. “If Bivol wins, they can make a third fight out of it. The level where they are, it’s only a small percentage of who will win or lose. It’s not a massive gap. So, it’s not a surprise that they could go like this” .
The rematch of Beterbiev against Bivol will not be as close as Ingle thinks because Artur now knows that he can dominate with the pressure put on Dmitry. In the second half of the contest, Beterbiev showed that Bivol could not handle his power and did not show the will to stand and fight. That won’t change in the rematch. Bivol will run when facing Beterbiev’s pressure because he doesn’t like to be hit and can’t deal with body shots or head shots.
“Because of how the fight went. One fighter finished stronger than the other,” said Nelson, which is why none of the three judges scored for Bivol. “It’s because of how the fight went, and that’s why I think it was a seesaw effect.”
Beterbiev cruised from the seventh round, which seemed to sweep the last six rounds of the fight. When you include those six rounds to the one or two that Beterbiev won in the first six rounds, it is understandable why the judges gave him the decision over Bivol.
“There’s a reason why Beterbiev is a three-time champion and still holds them. It’s because he’s defended them against everyone he’s faced,” Ingle said. “It’s hard to keep the three belts, especially when you have the IBF, because they’ll put a bond on you all the time that you probably don’t want to fight because it’s not worth it,” Ingle said.
It wasn’t a big deal for Beterbiev to keep his IBF title until now, because he had a money rematch that could happen in the first half of 2025. The rematch won’t have as much meaning without the undisputed championship on the line, which means Beterbiev needs to either pay his mandatory challenger Michael Eifert a step aside or fight.
It shouldn’t take long for Beterbiev to get Eifert out of the way. It would be a quick knockout win in the first round for Beterbiev if he wants to face him in January or February. Beterbiev could then face Bivol in a rematch in May or June, unless His Excellency Turki Alalshikh prefers to have him defend against the winner of the David Benavidez vs. David Morrell fight.
