Canelo Alvarez has explained he was unable train at 100 per cent for his shock defeat to Dmitry Bivol.
The Mexican star made a step-up to 175lb in May having previously earned all the marbles at 168lb with victory over Caleb Plant. However Alvarez was simply outclassed by a superb display from Bivol who was able to neutralise any trademark aggression from his rival.
Alvarez has since dismissed any claims that playing golf throughout his preparations was a key reason for his surprise loss. “I lost because I lost because I lost, not because of golf or nothing,” said Canelo Alvarez to Fight Hub TV when explaining his reflective thoughts on the defeat. “I was golfing three years ago, and I won the undisputed [super middleweight] championship, so that’s not the reason [I lost to Bivol].
"It’s another reason, but I don’t want to say anything and make any excuses. I lost and that’s it. I got tired and that’s it. I couldn’t train like usually, but it is what it is. “I lost, but I’m going to get my chance again. I’m not eating a vegan diet or anything like that. It’s other things. It’s not that [overtrained], it’s other things. I don’t want to say anything. I don’t want any excuses. I want to fight in his division."
Alvarez had previously impressed when becoming world champion at 175lb previously with a penultimate round stoppage of Sergey Kovalev. However he seemed a shadow of himself in his recent bout, and will now return to 168lb to defend his titles against two-time rival Gennady Golovkin.
Initially the 31-year-old planned to rematch Bivol immediately and wanted activate the contracted clause to do so. However upon further talks with promoter Eddie Hearn, Alvarez opted to return to his preferred weight and accept the pre-planned challenge from Golovkin.
Do you think Canelo Alvarez should rematch Dmitry Bivol after facing Gennady Golovkin? Let us know in the comments section below
The pair have met on two prior occasions in 2019 with Golovkin and Alvarez initially fighting to a controversial draw which the Kazakh star was confident he won. In the second meeting, Alvarez picked up another questionable result prevailing by majority decision to the anger of Golovkin again.
Now the pair will do battle for a third time with Golovkin having recently unified the middleweight division with victory over Ryota Murata. Alvarez has already ramped up his rivalry with the middleweight champion when the pair came face-to-face, accusing him of pretending to be a nice guy.
"It's personal for me," Alvarez said when asked about their rivalry by the media. "And this is the way I am. He pretends to be a nice guy but he's not, he's an a**h***. That's what he is. He pretends to be a nice guy and says "Oh, yes, I'm just looking for the fight, I'm happy". And then in other places he talks a lot of s***. It is what it is. Just be a man and say what you say."
