Saul Alvarez evades Dmitry Bivol

The rematch between the recognized best boxer of 2022, Russian Dmitry Bivol, and one of the most popular athletes in the world, Mexican Saul Alvarez, which was supposed to take place in the coming months, seems to have fallen through. It became known that Alvarez is negotiating a fight with other fighters – American Jermell Charlo and Swede Badu Jack. Representatives of Bivol believe that the Mexican avoids the Russian world champion according to the World Boxing Association (WBA) in light heavyweight (up to 79.4 kg), who confidently defeated him last year. And various sources indicate that the development of Dmitry Bivol’s career is hampered by the position of the World Boxing Council (WBC), which adheres to the sanctions regime against domestic boxers.

Saul Alvarez’s talks about his next fight were reported by ESPN. According to him, the extremely popular Mexican fighter, who owns all four championship belts – the World Boxing Council, the World Boxing Association, the International Boxing Federation (IBF) and the World Boxing Organization (WBO) – in super middleweight (up to 76.2 kg) , there are two options left. This fight is either with the American Jermell Charlo, or with the Swede Badu Jack. At the same time, Jack’s manager Amer Abdallah confirmed that the “basic terms” of the contract for his client’s match with Alvarez had already been agreed. It could take place in October in Saudi Arabia, which has been hosting major boxing tournaments quite often lately.

This is rather unexpected news. The fact is that in the fall, Saul Alvarez was supposed to fight with a completely different boxer. We are talking about Russian Dmitry Bivol, who owns the WBA world light heavyweight title.

The peak of Bivol’s career, which has no misfires in the track record, was his last May duel Just with Saul Alvarez. Before him, the Mexican, who had risen to the division of the Russian, occupied the top lines in all significant classifications of the strongest fighters, regardless of category, and was considered the undisputed favorite. Meanwhile, Bivol won an unexpectedly convincing victory on points. That success along with the November winning from the famous compatriot Alvarez Gilberto Ramirez brought Dmitry Bivol the title of the best boxer of 2022 in all major versions, including the most authoritative edition The Ring.

After that, both opponents have repeatedly stated that they are preparing for a rematch. In fact, the issue with the fact that it will take place in the fall was considered already resolved, and the representatives of the boxers mentioned only rather insignificant details that remain the subject of discussion, for example, the category in which Bivol and Alvarez will fight. Saul Alvarez’s bouts after his loss to the Russian champion, in which he defeated Kazakhstan’s Gennady Golovkin and Britain’s John Ryder, were seen as “warm-up” bouts before a rematch with Dmitry Bivol. It had every chance to turn into one of the main events of the season in professional boxing.

Meanwhile, instead of Bivol, Saul Alvarez, as it turned out, chose other opponents. Moreover, both options, although famous boxers appear in them, seem rather strange. 39-year-old veteran Badu Jack, once a middleweight, over the years has become very stout and fought his February fight against the Congolese Ilungi Makabu in the first heavyweight (up to 90.7 kg), winning the WBC title. Jermell Charlo, who owns a belt of the same structure in the average weight (up to 72.6 kg), is similar in size to Alvarez. But there is a serious problem with him. Charlo has not entered the ring since June 2021, and the official version explaining the incredible pause he took is the presence of “mental problems”.

Commenting on the situation with the fight against Saul Alvarez to ESPN, Dmitry Bivol only confirmed that it will not take place in the fall.

And the manager of the Russian boxer, Vadim Kornilov, suggested that the Mexican was simply “avoiding” Bivol, who had already surpassed him by a head. Kornilov also noted that Alvarez demanded that the conditions of the rematch be identical to those of the first fight, and “if a fighter really wants the rematch to happen, he does not insist on the same conditions.”

In addition, all media resources that talk about boxing mention an important nuance in connection with Dmitry Bivol, which, quite likely, hinders the development of his career. The boxing establishment is generally loyal to the Russians after the start of a special military operation in Ukraine, without imposing sanctions on them. The exception is the WBC. The president of this structure, Mauricio Suleiman, said earlier that it would not sanction the fights of Russian athletes, especially title fights. It is for this reason that it is not possible to arrange a fight between Bivol and another Russian, Artur Beterbiev, the owner of the WBC, IBF and WBO titles, for the status of the undisputed light heavyweight champion. Alvarez also has a World Boxing Council belt.

Alexey Dospekhov