Canelo Alvarez Seeking Rematch Against Dmitry Bivol In September 2023

Canelo Alvarez wants his rematch against Dmitry Bivol, but it will have to wait until next September.

"The idea is to return in May with a tuneup fight to see how I feel and then get the rematch against Bivol in September," Alvarez said, per Salvador Rodríguez of ESPN. "That's the only thing I want for my career right now."

Alvarez underwent surgery on his left wrist in late October and is expected to be ready to compete in early 2023. He has been on a two-fight-per-year schedule since 2012, with the lone exception being during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The 32-year-old has fought in May in six of the last eight years.

Bivol defeated Alvarez by unanimous decision in Canelo's second career light heavyweight bout. Alvarez had not fought at light heavyweight since knocking out Sergey Kovalev for the WBO championship in 2019.

Bivol's surprising dominance of Alvarez in the fight sent him back to the super middleweight division, where he easily dispatched of Gennady Golovkin in September to retain the WBA (Super), WBC, IBF, WBO, and The Ring championships.

Undefeated in 21 professional bouts, Bivol is coming off a unanimous-decision win over Gilberto Ramírez earlier this month. Unified light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev stands out as Bivol's next possible opponent, but he might be smart to wait for Alvarez. Beterbiev could easily hand Bivol his first career loss and significantly hamper Bivol's negotiating ability for a second Canelo bout.