Hearn: Coach Canelo asked me to rematch Bivol

According to Eddie Hearn, Dmitry Bivol remains the main goal Canelo Alvarez next spring. Hearn, the promoter of the Mexican superstar and reigning undisputed super middleweight champion, recently revealed that he has "instructions" from Alvarez's coach and manager Eddie Reynoso to arrange a rematch with the Russian light heavyweight champion, presumably in May 2023.

Alvarez lost to Bivol by unanimous decision for the WBA 79kg world title in May in Las Vegas.

Most likely, several factors must come into play for this scenario to play out the way Reynoso wants. Alvarez must first defeat Gennady Golovkin in their super middleweight trilogy on September 17 in Las Vegas, while Bivol must defeat his mandatory challenger Gilberto Ramirez in their title fight on November 5 in Abu Dhabi.

Hearn also knows about Bivol's desire to become the undisputed champion in the 79 kg weight category. But his compatriot Artur Beterbiev, who holds three other belts in the division, is linked to rival promotion company Top Rank, whose founder Bob Arum has explicitly stated that he would only be willing to fight such a fight if it was under the auspices of his Top Rank company, which presents its fighters exclusively on ESPN.

"My instructions from Eddie Reynoso are to have a rematch with Bivol after the September 17 win," Hearn told DAZN. “This is what Canelo Alvarez is after. Obviously, from a financial point of view, for Dmitry Bivol, the fight with Alvarez is three to four times more than the fight with Beterbiev. But he also wants to be the undisputed champion, and Beterbiev against Bivol is going to be an incredibly tough fight."

Alvarez recently stated that he would not be interested in a rematch with Bivol if he lost to Ramirez. On the other hand, Alvarez stated that he had no desire to date Ramirez because he was Mexican.

"Belts don't really play a role in that," Hearn said. “Alvarez just wants to beat the guy who beat him. He wouldn't want him to lose to Ramirez because I think he wants recognition for being able to beat Dmitry Bivol by beating him first. I think Canelo would like Bivol to look great, win with confidence and give him a rematch if he beats Golovkin on September 17th."