TMZSports.com
Roy Jones Jr. tells TMZ Sports he doesn’t believe Canelo Alvarez‘s loss to Dmitry Bivol will affect his star power one bit … saying the guy is “still the biggest ticket in boxing” outside of the heavyweights.
Canelo suffered just his second-ever loss on Saturday night after moving up in weight to fight Bivol … dropping the contest via a unanimous decision.
Some believe the L could hurt Canelo going forward … but, when we spoke to Jones Jr. about the result on Monday, he said he doesn’t expect it to impact the 31-year-old at all.
Can’t stop thinking about Bivol’s performance, absolute genius of a fighter🧠 Winning nearly every round, he controlled, frustrated and hurt Canelo. When was the last time someone did that to a P4P KING, making them look ordinary? Incredible 👏🏼 #boxing #CaneloBivol pic.twitter.com/whVBLUGQfu
— No Nonsense Boxing (@NNBoxing) May 8, 2022
@NNBoxing
In fact, Jones Jr. said the 57-2-1 fighter’s elite legacy is still in-tact … and no matter who he fights next, his name will still draw plenty of eyeballs.
“[He’s] the biggest ticket in boxing outside of the heavyweight division right now,” Jones Jr. said.
Jones Jr.’s advice for Canelo now is simple — fight Gennady Golovkin for a third time, and then go from there.
“Fight Triple G first because that’s one that people will pay big money to see,” Jones Jr. said. “It’s one that’ll generate interest and you could do it as a middleweight.”
No word yet on what Canelo’s plans are next … but when we spoke to Bivol on Monday, the boxer sure seemed like he wasn’t in any race to give a rematch to Canelo.
TMZSports.com
Bivol told us his goal by fighting Canelo was to gain notoriety … and then pursue more belts elsewhere.
Bivol, though, did give Canelo credit … and praised him still as “the biggest name in boxing.”