Would a light heavyweight title rematch for Canelo Alvarez with unified, three belt champ Dmitry Bivol be the best choice for his September return in Saudi Arabia?
With Canelo Alvarez confirming a return to the ring later in 2026 it seems like a rematch with three belt light heavyweight title holder Dmitry Bivol is the biggest interest fight he could have. And, several things "line up" for this to be his potential next bout.
First, Alvarez is aligned with the head of the Saudi Entertainment Authority, Turki Alashikh on four fight deal and Alashhikh announced late last week that the future hall of famer Alvarez will headline a Riyadh Season show in September there for the third of those fights.
And, second, Bivol has already fought in two headlining bouts for Alashikh in Saudi Arabia, himself, in undisputed 175 lb. battles with countryman Artur Beterbiev. He lost the first of those in October 2024 on a split decision, but avenged that defeat in Feburary of 2025 on another close 12 round verdict.
Most importantly, Bivol handed Alvarez, at that time, only his second pro loss, when he beat the undisputed super middleweight king in Las Vegas by decisive 12 round decision in May of 2022. Canelo has since lost his titles last September to Terence Crawford in a mega-fight in Las Vegas. And, Crawford has since announced his retirement and relinquished the belts.
So, that brings us back to the intrigue of an Alvarez-Bivol II.
Though he fought only once in 2025, the year proved career-defining for 34-year-old Bivol, 24-1, 12 KOs. with the rematch win over Beterbiev, which along with the Canelo upset are the two biggest wins of his career. He relinquished the WBC belt in the Fall rather than face Mexican-American David Benavidez.
That's in part, because Bivol had contemplated a third fight with Beterbiev late in 2025, however, that never materialized. Instead, the current IBF/WBA/WBO unified champ elected to go ahead and have back surgery for a nagging injury with goal of being ready in the first part of this year.
Before the surgery, Bivol’s team had already opened talks with Germany’s Michael Eifert, 13-1, 5 KOs, who was named the IBF mandatory challenger in March 2023. Eifert agreed to step aside so the Beterbiev–Bivol rematch could move forward with all four titles at stake and has not fought since August 2024 while awaiting his championship opportunity. In light of Bivol’s surgery, the IBF granted him a medical exemption, allowing the mandatory defense to be postponed.
Bivol's manager Vadem Kornilov told insider Dan Rafael earlier this month, “we are very time sensitive with the IBF. I am hoping that if all goes by plan, we can be ready to fight by April.”
So, after that an Alvarez rematch could be in play for September.
And, while Canelo, 63-3-2, 39 KOS, could try to regain the super middleweight belts piece by piece by fighting WBC interim champ, African Christian MBilli who fights out of Canada or someone like Hamzah Sheeraz of England or Diego Pacheco of the U.S., those bouts don't have the same profile that Alashikh might want for this September card.
Now, we wait to see if/when Bivol returns and how he does? And, then, most importantly what is the interest and the financial situation for a sequel with Bivol, if Canelo wants revenge?