ROUND 12: Many at ringside have Bivol leading to the point that Alvarez needs a knockout to win here. Chinese heavyweight Zhang Zhilei (24-0-1, 19 KOs) opened the pay-per-view portion of the card by delivering a massive left hand to the face, knocking out Scott Alexander 1 minute, 54 seconds into the first round. Canelo has left himself too exposed this fight. ROUND 11: A Canelo uppercut is followed by body work. Starting deliberately, Giyasov (13-0) first dropped Gomez in the fourth round with a left hook to the head. Alvarez goes to the body and Bivol smacks him with a left and a follow-up shot. But Love’s confidence was deflated early in the second, when Gollaz decked Love with a left to the face. Love met Gollaz with a knockdown punch in the first round, smacking him on top of the head as the Mexican lunged forward. Expect him to be at the top of his game on Saturday night even with more-lucrative, career-defining fights on the horizon. PBC boasts the deepest stable of talent in boxing but isn't nearly as top heavy as Top Rank; six of the top eight fighters on ESPN's pound-for-pound list are promoted by Bob Arum.
Villegas asked Arum his thoughts on Canelo taking on Dmitry Bivol. A Canelo 1-2 to the head is too little, too late in this session. BetMGM has installed Canelo as the resounding -1000 favourite to defeat Plant which means a $1000 bet on the pound-for-pound rankings ruler would land you just $100 (plus your one-grand stake back, of course). Yes. Truax is going to come after Plant, who will need to have enough punching power to knock him off course. The titleholder isn’t known as a big puncher but his sharp shots have caused damage in the past. At the very least, Plant could stay busy and take care of a mandatory to remain sharp for when his moment in a major fight finally arrives; he will be ready. HERE ARE FIVE QUESTIONS GOING INTO THE FIGHT. Canelo Alvarez vs Dmitry Bivol tickets to witness all the action at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday, May 9 are on sale.
He also fought DeGale on roughly even terms in the rematch four months later in Las Vegas. He lost a unanimous decision but two of the judges had it 114-113 for DeGale, which means DeGale won seven of the 12 rounds on those cards. No. 5 Was Truax’s victory over DeGale a fluke? A lot of that is on us, the boxing journalists, who ask the same questions over and over again. Fighting the 37-year-old former two-time WBC super middleweight champion Anthony Dirrell isn’t a big enough fight for Plant to excite the boxing public. Canelo made Saunders look like an amateur until the eighth round when Saunders’ corner had seen enough and they called to stop the contest. Plus, Truax has been stopped twice in his career, in the 12th round against Daniel Jacobs in 2015 and only 1:49 into his fight with Anthony Dirrell the following year. He traveled to DeGale’s backyard and was ready for the fight.
That doesn’t mean this fight is a slam dunk for Plant (20-0, 12 KOs), who will be making the third defense of his super middleweight title. CALEB TRUAX DEFENDS HIS SUPER MIDDLEWEIGHT TITLE AGAINST CALEB TRUAX ON SATURDAY IN LOS ANGELES. Caleb Plant is a 20-1 favorite to beat Caleb Truax on Saturday in Los Angeles (FOX). You can make a strong argument that Canelo hasn’t fought a good opponent since 2o18 when he beat Golovkin by a controversial decision. No. 3 Can Plant hurt Truax? Truax (31-4-2, 19 KOs) is a former titleholder and proven commodity. He’s in the sights of fellow 168-pound titleholder Canelo Alvarez. And would this damage any potential PBC/Canelo relationship and put Eddie Hearn in the driver’s seat for future Canelo bouts? And still young. Beterbiev is aging but still in his prime Kovalev, arguably the back end of his career, but you could do it,” said Eddie Hearn. Canelo did not complete his end of the deal and lost to Bivol.