Via Jack Tiernan: Coach Robert Garcia suspects that Canelo Alvarez and his coach underestimated the game against Dmitry Bivol, believing it to be an easy one last Saturday.
WBA light heavyweight champion Bivol (20-0, 11 KOs) surprised Canelo last weekend, beating him by unanimous decision in 12 rounds at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
The fight was so one-sided that many boxing fans believed Canelo would be a fool if he activated his rematch clause to force Bivol to fight him again.
Robert is inclined to think that both Canelo (57-2-2, 39 KOs) and his coach Eddy Reynoso didn’t put in the necessary effort in the camp due to the Mexico star being a 5:1 favorite and the fight being see as a sure win thing.
Promoter Eddie Hearn last weekend admitted that Bivol’s two previous lackluster performances against Umar Salamov and Craig Richards may have contributed to Canelo’s decision to take on him.
If Bivol had been spectacular against Richards and Salamov, then Canelo could have avoided fighting him.
After all, Artur Beterbiev and David Benavidez have both consistently had impressive performances, and Canelo shows no sign of wanting to fight.
Bivol fought right
“I just think Bivol is good. Bivol fought a perfect match in 12 innings,” coach Robert Garcia said of No filter audio file. “He did enough to control with his jabs and long punches.
“I’ve said many times, Bivol is pretty quick and uses his combos and punches pretty well, and that’s what he did. He controlled the fight with lots of jabs and punch combinations,” continued Robert.
“He never really went out of his way to please Canelo and do what Canelo wanted him to do and trade. He fought throughout the war, and it was a great game plan, and he never made a mistake.
“He never gets into the crowd screaming or whatever Canelo wants. He fought for 12 rounds. Other fighters, when they feel like they’re getting ahead of the scoreboard, sometimes make those mistakes and try to please the crowd. They make a mistake, and something happens.
“I think he fought right the whole fight, and had a great game plan and won. On the other side, I saw Canelo fight opponents who were also tall before. But during the war, he [Canelo] The invader is looking for body punches and arm punches.
“Even though he tried to do it with Bivol, most of the time, I don’t know why he backed off. Most of the time, he’s going backwards, and it’s dangerous to go up against a tall, lanky guy who’s going to punch him in the face.
“Canelo, he’s done it before, but that’s when he took control of the fight. During this whole fight, he was out of control. There have been many times where, instead of stepping back like he normally does, he would step back, put his hands down and face up.
“It was a surprise for me because it wasn’t Canelo. Canelo is much better than that. He also looks a bit tired. I don’t know how things go in the camp,” said Garcia.
Canelo may have fought with Bivol
Personally, I would say that he may have foughty. Not just him, but his team, his coach,” Robert said of Canelo. “They are 5:1 to win the fight, and everyone is talking about how he is the best, and there is no way he can lose and fight. No one can beat him.
“His coach [Eddy Reynoso] is also confident that no one in boxing can beat Canelo right now, and the whole boxing world thinks so too. Pound-for-pound, the best.
“I have heard and I have never been to any of his training sessions, but I have heard that Canelo is very disciplined. He came back to the gym a few days after the game and was very, very disciplined.
“We had our own fighters who were very disciplined, but to the point where they were a little too relaxed and a little overconfident. They had a bit of a thought that it would be an easy fight.
“Not only the fighter but sometimes also the coach. A trainer to the point of, ‘No one can beat my boxer, and you don’t have to push him too hard anymore. That could be a mistake.
“That’s the only thing I can think of that went so wrong. He [Canelo] only slight war ‘this war [Bivol] it won’t be hard,’ and that’s a big mistake, especially when going up against a bigger guy, a heavier guy.
“You can’t think like that. He went in with [Sergey] Kovalev dominates and knocks him down. Yes, yes, he [Canelo] not injured or beaten or anything. He’s just the controller.
“He went forward, blocked, blocked, and even though Kovalev was winning rounds, he touched him and touched him. With Kovalev, he kept coming and searching.
“When he hurt him, he ended him,” says Robert of how Canelo prevented the past of 36-year-old Sergey Kovalev, his best in round 11 in their fight. in 2019.
“With Bivol, he tried the first few rounds, but then he knew it wouldn’t work. So he started backing and backing up a lot. He helped a lot in the fight.
“When you go back to the game 7-5, and you’re saying 10-2. Rounds where Canelo assisted Bivol. It’s not like Bivol didn’t back up. Sometimes Canelo has assisted him and has dropped those punches in the arm.
“Maybe a lot of them didn’t land, and Bivol countered with those punches, but some of the judges from behind saw Canelo throw and land with his shoulder. The other one is in the back and has Canelo with his back to him,” said Garcia.
Bivol can win the rematch more easily
“So they just see the punches,” Robert said of the judges. “The rounds where Canelo pressurized and dropped those punches to his body, to Bivol’s body and to his gloves. Many punches were blocked by Bivol. So perhaps some of those rounds could have gone to Canelo. I don’t say 7-5.
“When all three judges saw it. You see some punches landing, but they’re landing on gloves. If the boxer’s back is turned, some referees may think they are landing.
“So all that [might account for the judges scoring it closely at 115-113 x 3], especially with Canelo backing Bivol. The rounds where that happened could have gone to Canelo.
“I saw Bivol win, but I can understand why the referees beat it like that 7-5. There are times when Canelo has assisted him, and Canelo has delivered punches that don’t hit the head but hit the glove, shoulder, arm and he still applies pressure. Maybe he put enough pressure on the judges to believe it was his round.
“Do I think he [Canelo] win? No, I think he lost, but that’s what I’m thinking. I’ve never been to his camp, but it happens to a lot of gladiators. He may have taken the fight lightly. He may not have trained so hard and so seriously.
“Maybe he was overconfident and did things outside of boxing that he shouldn’t have done. Maybe the trainer himself [Reynoso] think it’s an easy fight and don’t pay attention and don’t focus enough on studying and watching videos.
“That’s my personal opinion, and I think that can be a big reason when you don’t take a fight seriously.
“The mistakes he made in this fight are becoming more and more obvious because of the opponent he made in front of him. In the past, he omitted the shin pull-ups because they weren’t as fast or as powerful.
“Honestly, Canelo would think about it twice and go back to play Dmitry Bivol at 175,” coach Joel Diaz at Behind The Gloves said of Canelo Alvarez’s loss to the 175-lb WBA champion Dmitry Bivol.
“In the next match, it will be much easier for Dmitry Bivol to defeat Canelo because he felt his strongest punch.
“When he first entered the camp two months ago, we didn’t know about the political issues,” Diaz said of Bivol with what was going on around the world.
“I recognized a week in the camp when they carried banners; the [Canelo vs. Bivol] fight on. Thank God, everything went well, and Dmitry Bivol made history. That’s great,” said Diaz.
