In the immediate aftermath of his successful world title defense against Canelo Alvarez, Dmitry Bivol chats with Marcos Villegas of Fight Hub TV about his thoughts on the fight, if it went as he expected, and where he might go from here.
On whether Canelo ended up being what he expected heading into the fight
“Yeah, it’s like I expected, but I didn’t expect Canelo with his defense. I knew he has a good defense but he’s much better than I thought. His upper body movement is good.”
On if he felt like he was too big, too fast, and too strong for Canelo to handle in the ring
“I think maybe my plan is better than his (laughs)...It looked like (I was bigger than him in the ring), yeah? I don’t think I’m too big...On the fight I went around 183 lbs.”
On how he rates Canelo’s power
“Yeah, he’s strong. Of course, you saw it. His punch, every time, hard.”
On what point he felt he started pulling away fro Canelo
“It wasn’t that I was pulling away or something, I just felt I controlled the fight and the fight goes as I wanted. From the beginning, I think I was in control. I did not too many punches in the beginning but I see, I control. I study his punches.
“When you control someone it’s something deep inside, you see you control — you can move back, you can move forward, you can catch the punches how you want. Sometimes, of course, you miss, (you get caught), but most of them you control.”
On if he noticed Canelo tiring in the fight
“Yeah. I felt he was tired maybe around seven rounds. And ten rounds, he was tired. His punches were a little bit weaker, but sometimes he’s (catching breath) and hard like in the beginning.”
On his mindset entering the last round and if he felt he had the fight won at that point
“I was feeling that I’m winning and I have to win this round too, 100% I have to win this round too to seal myself. I did everything, now it depends not on me (as it goes to the scorecards).”
On if he had any worries about the cards
“For one second I thought ‘115-113?’, ugh, yeah, maybe (it goes the other way). It’s just one second.”
On what he said to Canelo after the fight
“I said to him ‘thank you for the fight, you’re a great champion.’ He said me similar words, I don’t remember exactly, but similar.”
On if he wants to do a rematch with Canelo or move on to other fights
“We have a rematch in the contract but not have a rules for this rematch. I don’t know what will be next, I have to talk with my team. With Canelo, maybe should think about his performance today and we (just need time to think about it).”
On if he believes he would perform even better against Canelo in a rematch
“Of course I think — now I know something, yeah? And maybe he feel too (that he can improve in a rematch). I don’t know what he feel. But I feel I can improve, I can do better...(I felt I put on a 7 or 8 level performance) out of 10...Of course every time you can do better. I made mistakes, I got (caught with some) punches.”
On if he’s thought about going down to 168 to grab some belts
“168 for all of belts? Of course it’s good. Yeah, it’s good. Why not? Yeah, I think yes (I can make 168 lbs). Maybe I could, (laughs), I have to think about this (really hard). But 175, it’s no problem for me, I don’t feel a problem. It means maybe I can make 168. Before coronavirus I was 100% sure I could make it, but coronavirus gives me more (of a gut). I was sitting at home and raising my fat.”
Loading comments...