Vadim Kornilov, manager of WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol, does not expect a rematch with Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez to ever come off.
In May of 2022, Canelo moved up to 175-pounds to challenge Bivol, but he was outboxed over twelve rounds, with Bivol coming away with a solid unanimous decision victory.
In the months that followed, Canelo vowed to get revenge with a rematch.
The second fight never happened. Canelo dropped back to super middleweight and made defenses of his undisputed title against Gennadiy Golovkin and John Ryder.
Canelo will make his next defense against Jermell Charlo on September 30 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
There were serious discussions to do a rematch with Bivol, but the two sides were unable to agree on the money and the contract weight. Bivol wanted to drop down to 168 to challenge Canelo for his undisputed crown.
Kornilov explains that his fighter was ready and willing to take part in a second fight, but it didn’t come off. On the other hand, the veteran manager never saw the point of Canelo doing a rematch.
“Canelo mentioned Dmitry’s name on many occasions as the most prioritized opponent, and instead he fought with others like Gennadiy Golovkin, John Ryder. He constantly mentioned that he wanted to take revenge. But in fact, he did not want it: politically and from a sporting point of view. He’s not interested [in a second fight],” Kornilov told Ivan Orekhov.
“Canelo lost almost every round in the first fight with Bivol, he looked too insecure – and objectively I don’t see what sense he can find to do a rematch. We received nothing from him, except for the words at a press conference. We were waiting [to do the rematch].”