Bivol's sparring partner: "He was even stronger than I thought"

American Alexis Espino (9-0-1, 6 KOs) was one of the main sparring partners of the WBA world light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol (19-0, 11 KOs) ahead of his Las Vegas fight tomorrow against the super middleweight king Saul Alvarez (57-1-2, 39 KOs). According to Espino, the chances of the Russian to win the upcoming fight are really very serious.

“I spent four weeks of sparring with Bivol and returned to my gym. What did I get from sparring with a champion? I knew it would be hard, but I didn't know it would be so hard. He has more strength in his fists than I thought. He works very well with the left straight and he is very fast. In my opinion, he poses a much bigger threat to Canelo than Billy Joe Saunders and Caleb Plant,” said Espino, who will face Mexican Aaron Silva (9-0, 6 KOs) on the Canelo-Bivol undercard.

“Bivol can win, he has a real chance of it. Many consider this a cakewalk for Canelo, but it's not that easy," added the 22-year-old boxer from Las Vegas.