WBA light heavyweight titleholder has said repeatedly that he’s open to fighting anyone in his division, including Artur Beterbiev, who is widely seen as the top dog at 175. And he’s also said many times that he’d be willing to move down to 168 for the right fight.
Bivol (17-0, 11 KO) spoke more about both ideas on the latest Lockdown Tapes, saying if he faced Beterbiev, he’d like to do it in the United States for the widest possible audience, instead of making a big fight in Russia.
But the super middleweight move is more intriguing. He’s mentioned Canelo Alvarez a lot, of course, but that’s not the only fight he’d move down to do.
“Canelo at super middleweight is a big fight but everyone wants to fight him,” Bivol said. “He is just a man, he is just a boxer. You can earn money with him and it is a good opportunity to show your boxing skills to the whole world because of his massive fan base.
“I would prefer the fight at 175 pounds as it’s my weight but I could move down to 168 pounds, that’s not a big problem for me. I had breakfast before my last fight on weigh-in day and think I have the reserves to come down.”
Alvarez (53-1-2, 38 KO) does look like he’ll be campaigning at 168 for a bit, having moved up to 175 for his last fight, where he won the WBO belt from Sergey Kovalev and promptly vacated to go back down. 160 may still be open, but Canelo’s planned May 2 return was going to be at 168.
Callum Smith (27-0, 19 KO) is another super middleweight titleholder, of course, and Bivol says he’d be willing to fight him, too.
“I boxed Callum Smith in Hungary as an amateur and to be honest I don’t remember this fight at all,” he said. “At the time, he was just a tall guy with good skills from Great Britain and I had to beat him. I think in the pros if we were to fight now it would be great for the British and Russian fans. It is a good fight for boxing because he is a champion at 168 pounds and I am a champion at 175 pounds. I want to fight the best in the world and he is now one of the best.”
As with everyone, we really don’t know when Bivol or Canelo or Smith will be back, but hopefully soon. Bivol last fought on Oct. 12 in Chicago, beating Lenin Castillo in an easy and frankly underwhelming title defense.