(Reuters) – Undisputed tremendous-middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez will move up to the sunshine-heavyweight class to tackle undefeated Russian Dmitry Bivol in a WBA title battle on May 7, the Mexican has confirmed.
Alvarez, 31, claimed the undisputed title after knocking out Caleb Plant in the eleventh spherical of their bout in Las Vegas in November to unify the WBC, WBA, IBF and WBO belts, giving him a report of 57 wins out of 60 fights.
“I’m very pleased with this battle towards Dmitry Bivol,” Alvarez mentioned in a press release. “It is one other nice problem for me and my profession — particularly as I’m going up in weight and face an distinctive gentle-heavyweight champion like Bivol.”
Bivol, who is nineteen-0 with 11 knockouts in the 175-pound division, gained the interim WBA gentle-heavyweight title in 2016 by beating Felix Valera. He was then awarded the everlasting title after it was vacated by Badou Jack in 2017.
The bout is a part of a two-battle deal between Alvarez and sports activities streaming service DAZN, with the second battle set for September. DAZN struck a 5-yr world cope with boxing promoter Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom steady in June final yr.
“Saul takes on yet one more champion, this time in the form of fearsome, undefeated WBA gentle-heavyweight king Dmitry Bivol,” Hearn mentioned. “Fans can count on an exciting all-motion match-up.”
(Reporting by Aadi Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
