Exclusive: WBC open to Canelo vs Bivol rematch at super middleweight
- Joe Hewlett
- 12 May 2022
Mauricio Sulaiman continued his extensive chat with Planet Sport and this time spoke about Canelo Alvarez's next move.
Canelo Alvarez is looking at the possibility of triggering his rematch clause against Dmitry Bivol.
The Mexican fighter tasted the second defeat of his professional career to Bivol on Cinco de Mayo weekend.
All three judges scored it 115-113 in favour of the Russian and now there is talk about a second encounter between the pair.
Canelo has two options in Bivol or a trilogy contest against Gennadiy Golovkin for September. However, it may be Bivol that he decides to fight again with him open to fighting at 168lbs.
And Mauricio Sulaiman was asked about whether Canelo's four titles at super middleweight could be on the line alongside the WBA light heavyweight crown against Bivol.
"That has been done before, if you are fighting at a certain weight then you are making the weight of the other division so that could be done. There are precedents for that in the history of boxing," Sulaiman told Planet Sport.
"Well Canelo is the WBC super middleweight champion and that's the only thing I can discuss, I cannot talk about any other organisations.
"And the WBC was very clear in the convention, we allowed Canelo after he requested to fight Makabu so we knew he was not going to defend the title in some time. That's why we ordered the interim championship between Benavidez and Lemieux.
"We are just flexible, we want to give the fans the best fights at all times. It's too early in my opinion to speculate, Canelo is going to have to take a few weeks off to relax after training camp. And then was ever he negotiates, we will see what they propose"
What weight should Canelo fight at?
Sulaiman admitted Dmitry Bivol was worthy of his win over Canelo.
The 31-year-old is a four-division world champion having won his first world title at junior middleweight (154lbs).
His challenge against Bivol was at light heavyweight (175lbs) and some people from the boxing fraternity believe Canelo should go back down to super middleweight, stating there are weight classes for a reason.
"Well this is the beauty of boxing, there's never anything written in boxing," said the WBC president.
"One punch can change a fight, styles make boxing. Bivol was better and dominated Canelo and it was a great surprise to the world.
"I don't want to speculate, we could talk about many options of things that could happen, but it's just playing with possibilities," Sulaiman added about Canelo's weight.
"Whenever they present a status, a proposal or plan of action, we will evaluate and make a ruling.
"However, we have been consistent in being flexible and being proactive to promote the best fights that the fans want to see. We are open to support Canelo and any other requests of any other champions in the WBC."
