Teddy Atlas reveals what he said to Dmitry Bivol before he beat Canelo Alvarez
- Chris Brannan
- 15 May 2022
Bivol became the first fighter since Floyd Mayweather to defeat Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez and his team have since revealed they received advice from Teddy Atlas.
Before the biggest fight of his career, Dmitry Bivol has admitted he spoke to Hall of Fame trainer and analyst Teddy Atlas.
The Russian - now 20-0 - overcame Canelo Alvarez on points with all three judges scoring it 115-113 in favour of him although it was much more comfortable than the scorecards suggested.
Following the win, Bivol and his team paid tribute to Atlas for some of the tactics he provided them.
On his podcast The Fight, Atlas - famous for working with Michael Moorer and Mike Tyson - revealed what exactly was said prior to the Cinco de Mayo clash.
"About a week before the fight, the manager called me and asked about the possibility of giving a little talking to him and even possibly being out there but that didn't obviously come to fruition," said Atlas.
"I had a facetime phone call with the fighter, the manager, and the trainer. I just saw a good person.
"I have always felt something for the underdog, for the person who was up against a little extra. And he was up against a little extra as nobody was for this guy, everybody was for the golden goose, the anointed one.
"The Bivol camp were the ones up against it, no one was looking out for them. It's a lonely sport anyway, you get in the ring and all that matters is that you take care of what you need to take care of cause nobody else can get in the ring with you.
"I spoke to him, and they knew what they were doing. It would be ludicrous to try to think that I did anything other than verifying things they already worked on for their camp and knew what was going to be productive for them and possible for them.
"The jab was going to be the key, the jab and the legs. Maybe not the quick legs and the ability to move with Bivol but the slow legs. I thought that's why he lost the fight to Mayweather. His hands may have not been too slow, but his legs were too slow to close gaps.
"I said if I was Canelo's trainer, I would say to him, 'you can't win this fight without your jab'. And everybody is thinking power punches, and hooks to the body and right hands, and the right uppercut. But that was my feeling, if he doesn't use his jab then he's going to be very beatable."
As Atlas predicted, the jab became the key in the fight right from the first round as Bivol continuously flicked out his left hand in order to maintain the distance between the fighters.
It troubled Canelo and didn't allow him to get into his rhythm to the extent that the Mexican only landed 10 jabs all fight compared to Bivol who landed nine in round one alone.
"I pointed out I watched on tape you go back in straight sometimes two or three steps, and you can't do that with Canelo" the boxing commentator continued. "You go back two or three steps you're still on the path to the punch.
"He doubles his jab and follows you with the right hand then you're in the path for him and he will track you down and catch you. You go back and then off to the side or move your head and counter punch, but don't keep going back straight.
"And it's funny because as I'm watching the fight, I did see a moment where he went back straight to or three steps and it looked like Canelo was on to him and he doubled the jab.
"I don't know if he landed or just missed with the right hand but after that I noticed Bivol correct it. I don't know if it had anything to do with me, probably not, but he went back and then went off to the side.
"The other thing I said is he's got to jab and got to jab at the right place and time and distance because if you jab from too close, he's gonna counter you with a right hand and he's very good at timing fighters and very good at countering fighters.
"There's two ways to really take away a man's jab, one is with your own jab which I thought Canelo needed to do. The other is by countering right hands over the opponent's jab so he's hesitant to jab because he could get hurt"
It seemed as though all the advice Bivol took on from Atlas was well-received as he implemented the game plan perfectly to dismantle the pound for pound superstar and propelled his name onto the global stage.
Yet despite all the technical advice, Atlas believed it was this last bit of mental advice that really sunk into the mindset of the champion.
"I said to him if I've learnt anything in my long career, it's that there is no superman, you can get intimated but there is no superman. There is no S painted on anyone's chest.
"And I said he is what he is, he's a good fighter but so are you. He was very alert listening, very respectful when I said this. I could just see the way he was tuning into it," added Atlas.
