By: Hans Themistode
While being world champion brings a certain amount of light and attention, the aforementioned attention is enhanced tenfold when going up against Canelo Alvarez.
The pound heavyweight star and multi-division title winner has brought his beloved fans and loyal supporters with him to Las Vegas, where he will battle the light heavyweight champion Current WBA, Dmitry Bivol.
While Bivol has proudly held his world championship title for the past five years, he admits that facing Alvarez has yielded an unprecedented amount of eyeballs. With the two officially finished this Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena, Bivol has noticed a trend with many of Alvarez’s competitors.
Overall, the Mexican star fills the arenas and attracts a large amount of media staff to his duels. In Bivol’s view, uncharacteristically large crowds often disadvantage Alvarez’s opponents.
Finally, Bivol admitted that more cameras were placed in his face than usual and that the seemingly lengthy interviews he was forced to participate in could turn out to be difficult and burdensome. However, Bivol refuses to allow the limelight to just begin to distract him from the task at hand.
Bivol said in an interview with Fight Hub TV: “A lot of people can’t get through all the pressure and the big ring and all the fans but that’s part of being a champion. “The spirit is there and gets through it.”
Alvarez’s upcoming title fight against Bivol will only be the second of his career at the 175-pound division. In November 2019, Alvarez scored a sensational knockout victory over Sergey Kovalev. Since then, though, Alvarez has taken his time to aggregate every world title at 168 pounds. After a round 11 win over Caleb Plant in late 2021, Alvarez became the first undisputed super-middleweight champion of all time.
While he may have only competed over 168 pounds once in his career, odds researchers are openly backing Alvarez to win. Bivol, however, highly doubts the feeling of the betting public.
In addition to holding a spotless record through 19 professional matches, Bivol recorded 11 wins in overtime. Although his last knockout performance came in 2018, the Russian-born is confident that due to a combination of both his punching power and decisive weight advantage, he has every what it takes to stop Alvarez right on his track.
“I believe I can win. Why not? It’s boxing, we both have strength. If I feel I can beat him, I’ll try.”
