Why Canelo Alvarez cannot overlook Dmitry Bivol and the potential dangers at light heavyweight

Over the past seven years, in the immediate aftermath of former pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather’s retirement, boxing fans have become so accustomed to Canelo Alvarez daring to be great in terms of his matchmaking that his opponents can often get lumped together.  

Alvarez (57-1-2, 39 KOs), whose lone pro defeat came against Mayweather in 2013, has gone on to succeed the fighter simply known as “Money” as the most popular, richest and most critically acclaimed boxer over that span, creating his own era in the process. A big part of the Mexican icon achieving such lofty acclaim has been how well he has preserved a challenger’s mindset. 

A revealing stat pointed out on social media this week by podcast host and broadcaster Dan Canobbio reminds us that the 31-year-old Alvarez will be fighting this Saturday for his opponent’s world title for the 11th time in 14 fights, a span that covers four weight divisions dating back to 2015. The only bouts not to reach that criteria were a mandatory title defense at 168 pounds (Avni Yildirim) and a pair of pay-per-view attraction events (Amir Khan, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.).

This weekend, Alvarez is back in his familiar spot as a PPV headliner during Cinco de Mayo weekend in Las Vegas for the first time since 2019. His opponent, however, could turn out to be different than the others, only no one is talking about it.  

Alvarez will move back up to 175 pounds for the first time since taking Sergey Kovalev’s WBC title in 2019 (before immediately vacating it) when he challenges Dmitry Bivol (19-0, 11 KOs) for his WBA light heavyweight belt inside T-Mobile Arena.  

To casual fight fans, Bivol is just another name. The reality, however, is that this has all the makings to potentially be a trap fight for Alvarez regardless of whether he’s playing with house money by following up his history making 2021 campaign by becoming the first undisputed…