Following the Mexican superstar’s latest win, Canelo Alvarez has to defeat Floyd Mayweather and Dmitry Bivol to be the greatest again.
Bivol’s manager, Vadim Kornilov, believes Canelo cannot be the best around due to his two losses. Kornilov, who is open to a rematch with Canelo in 2025, pointed out that Mayweather’s absence hinders the plan.
“Canelo has to avenge his losses to Dmitry Bivol and Floyd Mayweather [if he wasn’t retired] before he or they say that he is the greatest again,” stated Kornilov.
The fact that Mayweather beat Canelo in 2013 and has since retired for the best part of a decade gives the super middleweight champion little opportunity for a clean slate. However, beating Bivol in May for the undisputed light-heavyweight crown [if Bivol beats Artur Beterbiev on October 12 for all the belts] would go a long way to placing Canelo back on top of the sport.
With a resume better than any active boxer, Canelo’s only issue is his recent opponents and blemishes. For that reason, Canelo sits in fourth place in the Pound for Pound Rankings and hasn’t moved since the Bivol loss in 2022.
The Mayweather defeat, which came via a decision at the MGM Grand when Canelo was only 23, still hurts the most. Canelo learned a lot and took Mayweather’s blueprint and dates in the aftermath, but the fact that he’s got zero chance to gain revenge will always irk the former undisputed king.
Many would argue that Canelo also lost to Gennadiy Golovkin, at least once but maybe twice before a compelling victory in the trilogy when ‘GGG’ was older and slower.
With Golovkin also out of the picture as a rival, Canelo must focus on Bivol for the time being and ignore calls to battle Terence Crawford or Chris Eubank Jr. Only one event matters in May 2025, and that’s a revenge mission against Bivol in the world’s fight capital of Las Vegas.
Bivol must overcome Artur Beterbiev next month to set up one of the sport’s most significant fights for the spring. Canelo will begin as the underdog in a fight for only the second time in his career.
If Canelo can beat the formidable Russian for all the 175 titles, he will regain the P4P number one spot for the first time in three years.
Floyd Mayweather, though, will still be the one that got away.
Read all articles and exclusive interviews by Phil Jay. Learn more about the author, experienced boxing writer, and World Boxing News Editor since 2010. Follow on Twitter @PhilJWBN.
