Clenelo Is NOT Too Small For 175.

Good summary. I think Canelo is very competitive at LHW, but will not and can't be a dominant force for the reasons you listed.
Bivol didn't blow him out of there but deserved the UD.

Álvarez should go back down to 168. There's many fights for him to have before he hangs them up.

 

And is smaller than Canelo too.

 

Smaller than Canelo at 5-7.

 

You can always tell natural light heavyweights by the fact that they choose to fight at 175 rather than 168 which usually have much more recognised fighters and therefore more chance of getting bigger pay days. 175 has never been a particularly exciting division - at least in terms of household names.

If they could get down to 168 and be effective then they probably would do.

 

Yep. Big Red only Big Red @ 168 and less

 

He's clearly not a full blown light heavyweight but Bivol isn't a big light heavyweight and guys like Montel Griffin and Dwight Muhammad Qawi were shorter and had plenty of success at the weight. Also Bivol himself gave up 3.5 inches in height and 4 inches in reach in his last fight yet won.

Bivol probably only had 4-5lbs weight advantage if that, so the weight really wasn't the issue, I'd pick Canelo over many light heavies the issue was style and skill rather than the weight. Skills can overcome size differences as fighters like Pac and Usyk have shown but Canelo simply didn't have the skill set to deal with Bivol.

 

Agree with all that but I do think Canelo has the skill set to deal with Bivol, it's just that he didn't have the right gameplan nor the gas tank to get the job done last night. He's capable of beating Bivol, but he needs to use the jab more instead of just loading up on power shots. In addition he needs to really focus on jabs to the body and straight rights to the body, rathr than trying to ladn hooks to the side of Bivol's body, those punches don't work on Bivol like they do other fighters. The power shots also tired him out, Canelo basically punched himself out trying too hard to go for the knockout and didn't have enough in the tank in the later rounds. I said before the fight that Canelo is gonna have to make this a dogfight for him to win, because Bivol is more well rounded as a boxer and better technically. (footwork, jabbing, blocking, etc) But Canelo is a bigger more dynamic puncher than Bivol, has better upper body movement, has intangibles that Bivol doesn't have and has tons more experience. But experience only pays dividends if you can apply it into a gameplan.

So he really needed to rough Bivol up to win a decision by fighting the way he did. Canelo is capable of being more technical and elusive like he was against GGG the first time, but since GGG 1 he's been relying more on brute force rather than his bread and butter. He has to get back to basics and reach into his technique more if he fights Bivol again. This was like a B- performance, a decent effort but not nearly as good as Canelo is capable of and shown in the past. At his best he beats Bivol but he has to be super motivated, a half assed effort like we saw last night is not gonna get the job done against someone as good as Bivol.

 

Bivol can move around the ring and throw punches far more effortlessly because he's naturally acclimatized to that weight. Whereas Canelo was bogged down by bulk and had no feet and very little snap on his shots. You're lying to yourself if you say size was a non-issue.
Bivol's weight was more functional , plus he has height and reach advantage. Canelo's ego got too big for his boots. He went to a division he didn't belong in and got beat. Simple as that

 

This.

 

If Bivol moves down to 168 and challenges Canelo for Undisputed, does Canelo beat him?

 

He isn't too small for 175, he's just not an elite fighter at this weight.

He's best suited to 168 though for sure as numerous people have already said.

 

I guarantee you they weighed the same on fight-night, Canelo might have even weighed a little more

 

He doesn't have short arms, they're actually long for his height, and his reach is almost the same as Bivol

 

Canelo's 5'8, and his reach is 70.5", Bivol's is 72", that translates to 0.75" per arm advantage for Bivol