WBA world light-heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol has hit out at Canelo Alvarez for their seeming collapse of negotiations for a rematch which provisionally would have taken place in September of this year.
Bivol would claim an upset betting win over Canelo in May of last year, winning a narrow but justly deserved unanimous decision points win to defend his WBA world light-heavyweight title.
There does remain a rematch clause for the pairing’s original bout agreement, which Canelo had been keen to activate; however, Bivol, over recent months, has made it known that he wishes to re-negotiate those terms. Bivol would like to drop a weight division to challenge Canelo for his undisputed world super-middleweight world titles, which Canelo is not to keen on allowing the Russian to challenge for.
Bivol’s manager, Vadim Kornilov, earlier this month stated that he was ready to pull the plug on talks with Canelo due to his demands of maintaining the original rematch terms following their 2022 encounter..
“They don’t want a rematch (Canelo & team). They know that they lost very badly in the first fight and that they have less chance of winning in the second. When have you heard of a fighter who, after losing, asked for a rematch on the same terms?”
Bivol himself has continued the tone of his manager and become more outspoken regarding his situation with Canelo. Speaking to SecondsOut, Bivol said that he is now finding the situation funny as to the “excuses” Canelo is coming up with to avoid fighting him for a second time.
“It’s funny. He just wants to find some excuses. He just doesn’t want it… I could say, ‘I want to fight Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury, but I wanna fight on Mars. Do you not agree to fight me on Mars?’”
Bivol has also pointed his frustration in the same interview directly at the WBC for the organisation’s refusal to sanction Russian or Belarusian fighters to contest any of their titles in support to Ukraine and the ongoing conflict in the territory.
Bivol maintains that the WBC position is unfair and that politics and sports should not be mixed. If Bivol was to pursue an undisputed 175lb match-up with WBC, WBO & IBF world champion Artur Beterbiev, the WBC would not sanction the contest despite its prestige and standing.
“It’s not fair. How can you say, ‘I am the champion of the world,’ if somebody from some country can’t fight for your belt? It’s not fair… Don’t mix politics and sport, don’t mix it.”
