The Mexican Saúl ‘Cinnamon‘ Alvarezconsidered the best pound-for-pound boxer at the moment, announced this Friday that on May 7 he will challenge the Russian Dmitry Bivol for his world semi-complete championship world boxing association (WITH).
It’s official! I will fight this coming May 7 against Dmitry Bivol for the WBA light heavyweight world championship at 175 pounds. We will confirm the venue soon”, the first undisputed champion of the super middleweight division revealed on his Twitter account.
El Canelo will have his first fight of 2022 against Bivol, after a 2021 in which he had three fights and swept the weight of 168 pounds by winning the super middleweight belts of the world boxing organization (WBO) and the International Boxing Federation (IBF).
In February, Álvarez knocked out Turkey’s Avni Yildirim in three rounds to retain his World Boxing Council (WBC) and WBA super middleweight belts.
After dispatching the Turk, the Mexican boxer threw Englishman Billy Joe Saunders to the canvas in eight rounds to snatch the WBO super middleweight title from him in May, who joined his WBC and WBA belts.
The task in the super middleweight division was completed in November by defeating the American Caleb Plant by knockout in 11 rounds and obtaining the last weight belt that was missing, the IBF.
Saúl Álvarez left his record after his fights in 2021 of 57 wins, 39 by knockout, one loss and two draws.
Canelo’s initial plan in 2022 was to challenge the Congolese Ilunga Makabu for the WBC cruiserweight title, but in the end there was no agreement between the two gladiators.
For this reason, Canelo, driven by a good understanding with Eddie Hearn, owner of the Matchroom promoter, decided to close the duel against Bivol, who had been wanting to face the Mexican for months.
Dmitry Bivol will come to the fight with Canelo with a record of 19 wins, 11 by way of knockout, with no losses or draws.
The Russian fighter last boxed in December when he retained his WBA title against his compatriot Umar Salamov, whom he defeated by unanimous decision.
With information from EFE