By: Hans Themistode
Eddie Hearn is a loyalist and believer in the talent of Canelo Alvarez.
The talented weight-division star won his competition no matter what division he competed in. Over the past 12 months, more or less, Alvarez has stripped each of the £168 world champions of the title.
In December 2020, Alvarez easily overcame Callum Smith to win his WBA and Ring Magazine titles, as well as the vacant WBC belt. From there, Alvarez roughly ended Billy Joe Saunders and Caleb Plant’s titles, while winning a third-round knockout against Avni Yildirim in the middle.
With all four world titles in possession, Alvarez will now challenge with the 175-pound weight class. The Mexican superstar will face off against Dmitry Bivol on May 7, hoping to win his WBA title in the process.
Although Alvarez has been quite popular in the betting market, Eddie Hearn believes that conquering the undefeated Bivol is a big task.
“As good as Canelo, I think this is a really tough and dangerous fight,” Hearn told a group of reporters. “Moving to 175 is an undoubted disadvantage. But to do it with a light heavyweight youngster in his prime, he is unscathed. “
Even if Bivol comes in as the bigger man, Alvarez won’t be a fish that lives entirely in water. In November 2019, Alvarez boldly chose to move up two divisions to take on then-WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev.
In the end, while Kovalev was slick, Alvarez found the closing shot in the 11th round, sending Kovalev down the middle ropes and officially closing their session. Ultimately, Alvarez’s win is impressive, in Hearn’s opinion, but it shouldn’t be used as a yardstick for how he’ll do for his second lightweight ride.
Throughout most of Kovalev’s career, although he was once a heavyweight, he quarreled back and forth with his former coach John David Jackson and dealt with legal and documentary issues. Alcoholism. His two problems were off the field with his age, 36 years old at the time, and Hearn is convinced that in the event that Alvarez played against Bivol, 31, things could have turned out completely differently.
“It’s not that Kovalev lived a bad life and aged a little. This is a top light weight class so I’m worried about the fight with Bivol. It was a really tough fight.”
