LAS VEGAS – Canelo Alvarez conceded defeat four months after arguing he did enough to beat Dmitry Bivol in their light heavyweight title fight.
However, the confident four-division champion still believes he is the best fighter, pound for pound, in the sport. Alvarez (57-2-2, 39 KOs) ranked No. 1 on most credible pound-for-pound lists before Bivol defeated him in their 12-round bout on May 7 at T-Mobile Arena.
The Mexican icon told a group of reporters Wednesday at the MGM Grand that he should remain No. 1 in large part because his unanimous decision loss to Bivol was the consequence of taking the kind of risk most of his contemporaries wouldn’t have. chosen one.
“I think I’m the best fighter in the world because nobody does what I do in boxing,” said Alvarez, who will face Gennadiy Golovkin for the third time on Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena. “Nobody takes risks like me, and I don’t need to take risks, please. But I love a challenge, and that’s it. And I feel like I’m still the best.”
BoxingScene.com ranked Alvarez fifth on its most recent pound-for-pound list, behind Naoya Inoue, Oleksandr Usyk, Errol Spence Jr. and Terence Crawford, respectively. The Ring magazine also recently ranked Alvarez fifth, but The Ring ranked Usyk first and Inoue second.
ESPN.com also has Alvarez in fifth place, but behind Crawford, Inoue, Spence and Usyk.
Alvarez rose to the number one position on most pound-for-pound lists after winning his rematch with Golovkin by moving up two weight classes and knocking out Sergey Kovalev to win the WBO light heavyweight title, later becoming boxing’s undisputed super middleweight champion. The 32-year-old Guadalajara native will defend his IBF, WBA, WBC and WBO 168-pound championships against Golovkin, who will debut at the super middleweight limit against Alvarez.
Kazakhstan’s Golovkin (42-1-1, 37 KOs), who has held at least one middleweight title for most of his career, is not ranked in the top 10, pound-for-pound, by BoxingScene.com, The Ring or ESPN.com. Russia’s Bivol (20-0, 11 KOs) is ranked sixth by BoxingScene.com, seventh by The Ring and eighth by ESPN.com.
Despite the thoroughly competitive nature of his two middleweight title fights, most sportsbooks have set Alvarez as at least a 5-1 favorite over Golovkin. DAZN Pay-Per-View will distribute his third fight as the main event of a show that will cost subscribers $64.99 and non-subscribers $84.99.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
