Canelo vs. Dmitry Bivol In Play As Caleb Plant Negotiations Stall

Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez’s next fight could well be up at light-heavyweight against Dmitry Bivol according to Mike Coppinger of ESPN.

The pound-for-pound king has been chasing a fight with IBF super-middleweight title holder, Caleb Plant, for some time now.

Alvarez, who was quick to comment on this weekends boxing match between Brian Castano and Jermell Charlo, has made no secret of his desire to become undisputed at 168lbs.

The Mexican superstar currently holds three of the four major belts in the weight class after dethroning Callum Smith and Bill Joe Saunders in recent fights.

According to Coppinger, Alvarez may have to wait a little longer to realize his dream of becoming the first-ever Mexican boxer to become an undisputed champion.

“Anytime Canelo wants to fight, there’s a saga, and we know why because the guy he’s going to fight is hitting the lottery, the sweepstake,” said Coppinger to Max on Boxing. Canelo is steadfast; he wants Caleb Plant. That fight is still being negotiated, but they’ve hit a bit of a snag.

“I’m told the Plan-B is Dimitry Bivol, a title-holder at 175. Canelo has no problems going back to 175, where he beat [Sergey] Kovalev, but Plan-A remains Caleb Plant. But right now, we’re going to need an answer by midweek.

“I think it is because Bivol isn’t recognised by anybody in America, really. He’s only known to use hardcore fans,” Coppinger said. “He’s very tricky, he has a great jab, and he’s bigger than Canelo. So I would take my hat off to him as well.

Coppinger was quick to give Alvarez credit for his choice of backup opponent.

“He’s very tricky, he has a great jab, and he’s bigger than Canelo. So I would take my hat off to him as well.

“But Canelo has shown, I think he takes it very seriously his status as the biggest star in boxing, and he wants to take on the biggest challenges. I think that’s what we’re going to see once again.

“You got to love that about Canelo. That’s why we thought, ‘Hey, GGG.’ When GGG couldn’t get a fight with another middleweight star, we thought, ‘Canelo will fight him,’ and sure enough, he did, and they made two great fights, and Canelo beat him.” (Transcribed by Mirror Fighting)

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