Prop: Canelo Alvarez Wins By TKO (+280)
Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez continues to add to his ever growing legacy. And this weekend is no different as he looks to add another light heavyweight title to his collection against what may be his toughest challenge to date, at least since the pair of fights with Gennadiy Golovkin.
Dmitry Bivol is a bit of a puzzle but it is not something Canelo has not dealt with before. A bigger, taller, possibly stronger opponent with power and hand speed to boot. While his professional record is miniscule compared to Canelo’s 60 fights against some of the best in the world, Bivol brings an incredible amateur record of 268-15. He is a shark stalking its prey when blood is in the water and is great about using his power jabs and hooks to swarm his opponents until a crippling knockout shot drops them dead on the canvas. Either way you look at it Canelo will have his hands full in trying to dethrone the Russian of his WBA (super) light heavyweight title.
While you can look at challenges Canelo will have to figure out in order to win this fight, he is the best fighter in the world right now with the best team behind him where he is just about unstoppable in the ring. Seeing who will take control of the ring and be the instigator is the tough part to figure out as Canelo works great on the offense or the defense with excellent countering and working off the ropes. I think we could see both being cautious with each other out in the early rounds with Canelo looking to use his speed and power to break through. What Canelo has going for him is his devastating body work and it will be the key piece in his victory on Saturday night. Bivol tends to leave himself wide open for counter shots to the body and Canelo is dangerous there – his left power hook to the body I see being the money shot for Canelo over and over as he looks to break Bivol down through the fight. Once the body work gets into a rhythm for Canelo he may start to open up more upstairs in looking for Bivol’s chin. Whether it is a body shot or head shot I do not see this fight being stopped early as Bivol is very tough and too talented to fold in the first five to six rounds. Canelo will have his work cut out for him but expect a finish in the second half of the fight as Canelo’s power is truly a gamechanger and has transitioned so well for him as he has moved up in weight. I am calling for a Canelo knockout win adding another light heavyweight title to his resume and hall of fame career at only 31 years old.
Thanks for reading and best of luck!
