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Canelo Alvarez sees no reason to abandon his long standing ring philosophy in his next fight.
The 31-year-old Mexican superstar and current undisputed 168-pound champion is set to take on WBA light heavyweight titlist Dmitry Bivol of Russia in a 12-round, 175-pound title bout May 7 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The pay-per-view event, promoted by Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing, will be streamed live on DAZN.
Known to be one of the more thoughtful and methodical fighters in the sport, Alvarez tends to take his time against his opponents in the early going of a bout before ratcheting up his output. Against Bivol, a stylistically awkward fighter who likes to fire off straight punches at a safe distance, Alvarez stated he plans on taking his time so that he can get on the “inside.”
“Be patient,” Alvarez, 31, said of his strategy for Bivol on the Boxing with Chris Mannix podcast. “Be patient. Find a way to go inside. And be patient.”
Alvarez (57-1-2, 39 KOs) , who is coming off an 11th-round stoppage of Caleb Plant last November to unify the 168-pound division, will be making the second challenge of a light heavyweight title when he fights Bivol (19-0, 11 KOs). He previously wrested the WBO belt off of longtime 175-pound titlist Sergey Kovalev in their title bout in 2019, stopping the Russian in the 11th round. Alvarez then dropped the belt in order to focus on unifying titles at 168.
Unlike Kovalev, who was regarded as being over the hill at the time, Bivol, 31, is seemingly in his prime.
“He’s a good fighter,” Alvarez said of Bivol. “Difficult fighter, too. He’s a fighter who fights at distance, [maintains] good distance. He moves [well], he’s fast for the division, he’s strong. He’s a solid champion at 175.”
“So he’s a dangerous fighter, but I like [the challenge].”
While his overall game plan has not changed, one matter that Alvarez has apparently tweaked ahead of the Bivol fight is his diet. Alvarez said he has incorporated vegan aspects (meals that include no animal products) into his overall nutritional plan.
“Not a hundred percent,” Alvarez said of his newfound, partial veganism. “I feel good. Not a hundred percent (vegan), but I feel good.”
Asked why he had taken it up, Alvarez said a documentary he watched convinced him that the trendy diet offered important health benefits.
“I watched a documentary on Netflix about food and everything and that’s why,” Alvarez said, laughing. “I like it. It talks about food, cancer, diabetes, everything like that.”