What impresses me about Canelo is his ability to evade punches with great head and upper body movement, all the while walking his opponents down and pressuring them with great body work and quick counterpunch combinations. There's no denying Canelo has considerable pop in his punches.
Canelo probably has even better defense than Lomachenko, even though he's not as mobile.
His head slips are the best I've ever seen in boxing, ever. He's also learned how to move his torso really sell in the last 3-4 years.
So the key is obviously to go at him with body shots. Sadly, that has never been Bivol's strength, to put it mildly.
He's incredibly mobile, & he has fast hands, but his offense is practically meat & potatoes basic, and he almost NEVER has gone to the body in the past. (Watch the Agnew fight, when Bivol had him trapped against the ropes and Agnew went to an earmuffs defense. I was literally screaming at my TV for Bivol to go to the body. But no .....
Bivol also sucks at countering off the back foot, though I doubt that will be a factor against Canelo.
- But could we see a new Bivol tonight? He certainly has the leg speed to get in & out on Canelo.
He also has incredibly good balance. When he attacks from outside, he never leans forward or gets caught with his head exposed. He's very hard to counter. - So if they've added a solid body attack to his arsenal, he might have a very good chance against the gingican.
Of course, Bivol will also be fighting the ref, the judges, probably the ring size (I guarantee it will be tiny) etc etc etc ..... Heck, they'll probably have some guy in the rafters with a spotlight, constantly shining it in Bivol's eyes. Team Canelo doesn't take any chances.
Mo' money, 'mo money, 'mo money, 'mo money ..............
