Canelo: I Accepted Loss To Bivol, It Hurt Me, But I Still Feel I’m The Best In Boxing –

Canelo Alvarez has cut it close twice against Gennadiy Golovkin in heated contests but he doesn’t have a loss to show for it on his record. 

Many observers have argued Golovkin beat Alvarez in both their 2017 and 2018 bouts, but Triple G has had to settle for a split draw and a majority decision loss – the only defeat of his 16-year career. 

Alvarez has since pursued paths that never led to Golovkin over the last four years – most recently in May in a losing effort to undefeated light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol. 

The undisputed super middleweight champion Alvarez (57-2-2, 39 KOs) and Golovkin (42-1-1, 37 KOs) will finally settle their beef Saturday at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on DAZN pay-per-view.  

“I still feel like I am the best [fighter in boxing]. I go up and down in weight classes. Nobody does that,” Alvarez told BoxingScene.com and other reporters.

“Everyone fears losing. When you look for greatness, inevitably you’ll have some stumbles. But that doesn’t mean that I’m still not the best. I am the best. I feel the best. I am the undisputed champion of my weight division. Did I try something else? Of course. I feel proud. I feel good. The loss [to Bivol] hurt me, of course. Nobody wants to lose. But that’s life.”

If Alvarez and Golovkin’s previous decisions were disputed, the bout against Bivol was not. Alvarez was bullied by the bigger Bivol en route to a unanimous decision loss. Bivol outlanded Alvarez 152 to 84, and the Mexican star faded as the fight went on. 

“I don’t want to make any excuses, but the team and I know what happened internally, and why I was tired,” Alvarez explained. “When you look at the first five rounds, I beat him. But after that, I started getting tired. A lot of things happened. But again, no excuses. I lost, and that’s what I take it as. My time and opportunity will come again and it will be completely different. But I just don’t want to talk about what happened, if something happened, and what could have happened. I take the loss for what it was. I lost and I accept it. And that’s it. You have to take it for what it is. A loss is what it is. You take it and you move on.”

The four-division champion Alvarez will fight the career-long middleweight Golovkin at 168 pounds. Their first two fights took place at 160 pounds.

“I always say it – I feel best at 168 pounds. That’s my weight class,” said Alvarez. “If I fight with Bivol again, I will fight him at 175 pounds because I don’t want an excuse.” 

Manouk Akopyan is a sports journalist, writer and broadcast reporter. He’s also a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and MMA Journalists Association. He can be reached on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube at @ManoukAkopyan, via email at manouk[dot]akopyan[at]gmail.com or on www.ManoukAkopyan.com.

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