Canelo Alvarez is assuming his contractual obligations by moving forward with the Gennady Golovkin trilogy. That means, the rematch with Bivol is currently off the table.
For the next few months 168 is tied up, with many of the stars in that division having to hold off on an opportunity to take a crack at Canelo’s belts until he has his third fight with GGG. Even then, he will likely pursue the rematch with Bivol, further tampering with the opportunities at both 168 and 175.
However, by moving forward with the trilogy, this is actually good news for 175 at the moment. This frees up Bivol to fight someone else before the rematch with Canelo. And Bivol has options: there’s the ever-patient Zurdo Ramirez, who’s been waiting for a bout with Bivol for a while now, and there’s the winner of Beterbiev-Smith.
Other opponents for Canelo that would surely provide more excitement than fights we’ve already seen from him are Benavidez, Andrade, and Charlo. But with the contracts set in place with both GGG and Bivol, it seems highly unlikely that he would go for any other fighter until those bouts are fulfilled.
The official date for Canelo Vs. GGG is September 17. Canelo spoke about the fight announcement during one of his golf tournaments in Mexico, “we already had that contract with Gennady Golovkin, so we have to continue what we started, and I think those are the two biggest fights in boxing, the fight with Golovkin, and the rematch with Bivol. Unfortunately, we lost, but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to try again. The important thing here is perseverance and we’re going to do it again. What is certain is that we are going to return in September.”
