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Canelo Alvarez vs. Dmitry Bivol is set to take place this Saturday in Las Vegas for the WBA Light Heavyweight Championship. Eddie Hearn, Marco Antonio Barrera, Callum Smith and others in the boxing industry have given their predictions.
Alvarez will move up to 175 pounds for only the second time in his career against a talented and experienced opponent in Bivol. The Russian was an esteemed amateur and is undefeated as a professional.
Hearn believes the pound-for-pound king will have his hands full against Bivol and is expecting a close encounter.
"I think it's a really tough fight because he wants to move up and challenge himself. He's got one eye on undisputed at 175 lbs, he's obviously got the trilogy with Gennadiy Golovkin, probably the biggest fight in boxing. He's done everything at 168, he's beaten every single champion that was out there."
Barrera, meanwhile, expects Canelo Alvarez to win by knockout in an exciting contest.
"Great fight, but you know Canelo, we're with the Mexican ones. We already know he's going to make a huge spectacle from that fight and can we can expect a knockout for Canelo."
Watch all the predictions on Boxing Social:
Most boxing experts predict a competitive fight between Canelo Alvarez and Dmitry Bivol
Callum Smith is expecting a close fight and does not believe a Canelo Alvarez win is a foregone conclusion. Smith explains how Dmitry Bivol has an awkward style which makes him very hard to beat. Still, the Liverpudlian doubts that the Russian will be awarded a points decision over Alvarez.
Dan Azeez was in agreement with Barrera, who stated that Alvarez is the favorite going into the fight against Bivol. However, he too expects a competitive contest.
Craig Richards is under the impression that Bivol needs to have the power to hurt Alvarez or the Mexican will wear him down. The Brit would not be surprised if Bivol captures a points victory. Richards' next opponent Joshua Buatsi shared a similar prediction, mentioning the importance of whoever executes their game plan.
As for Shane McGuigan, the highly rated boxing coach thinks Bivol is a much tougher fight than Jermall Charlo and is also expecting Alvarez to dig deep in the bout. Former World Super Featherweight Champion Barry Jones believes Alvarez beats everyone and wanted the Mexican to fight Charlo instead.
