Canelo Alvarez has normalized moving up to heavier boxing divisions and competing against the best boxers in the world. However, doing so demands impeccable physical preparation to be able to face bigger and stronger fighters. The Mexican superstar has a major challenge ahead of him as he takes on Dmitry Bivol on May 7 for the WBA 175-pound title.
Russian Bivol surpasses Alvarez by .3 feet. Similarly, he has an advantage over Canelo in the fact that he has spent his entire professional boxing career (19-0-0, 11 KOs) in the Light heavyweight division, unlike Canelo who started as a Super lightweight and has been climbing the ranks to establish himself as the king of the 168-pound division.
It is a fact that at least by common sense, Dmitry Bivol is the one who will feel more comfortable next May 7 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Canelo Alvarez is looking for the feat of becoming two-times Lightheavyweight Champion after having won the WBO title of that division in 2019 against Sergey Kovalev, the only occasion in which he has stepped into a ring with more than 175 pounds of weight.
Canelo Alvarez's possible cheat, according to Teddy Atlas
Recently, Eddie Hearn, Matchroom Boxing Chairman and co-promoter of Alvarez's May 7 fight against Dmitry Bivol, posted a photo of the Mexican superstar on social media showing him with an impressive amount of muscle mass from his training for the clash with the Russian 175-pound World Champion.
Reactions to this were not long in coming. And one of them came from Teddy Atlas, boxing trainer and television commentator, who expressed his distrust about the methods used by Canelo Alvarez to be in his current physical shape.
"Whether it's from natural or unnatural things... Listen, I don't know (if) it's from eating those Mexican hamburgers at that store over there. Maybe the Whoppers they serve over there that have a special sauce? I don't know. Listen, people get mad at me, but there's some truth there. We know he tested positive for that stuff you're not supposed to put in your veins and hit somebody. I don't know, maybe it was just a great weightlifting program, maybe that's it.", stated Atlas in a video posted in his Youtube Channel.
Canelo Alvarez's past with dopping issues
Ahead of his second fight against Gennady Golovkin in April 2018, Canelo Alvarez was suspended 6 months by the Nevada Athletic Commission for testing positive for clenbuterol, a substance that promotes fat loss by providing fuel to gain muscle mass and increase lean weight.
This caused the clash against Golovkin, scheduled for May 2018, to be postponed until September 2018. Also, this caused Canelo Alvarez to be singled out as a dishonest and cheating fighter ever since, despite the fact that the Mexican claims to have proven that the clenbuterol in his test samples was due to the ingestion of contaminated meat he consumed in his country.
