LAS VEGAS – Dmitry Bivol shocked Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, his devastated army of fans, all of Mexico and boxing itself when he retained his WBA light heavyweight title with a consummate victory on points in Las Vegas.
Bivol, the 31-year-old Russian, improves his record but none of his previous victories come close to the magnitude of this utterly dominant win over the feted Alvarez. Bivol was awarded the decision on all three scorecards by a scandalously narrow margin of 115-113.
Alvarez’s bruised, cut and swollen face, and dejected demeanour through much of the fight, told the real story. Bivol’s significant advantages in size, power and speed made the difference.
Bivol opened up a cut under Alvarez’s left eye in the seventh. It was clear that Alvarez was in trouble and fatigue began to spread across his reddened face. Bivol was cruising but, finally, in round nine Alvarez began to gain some impetus.
For the first time in the fight he looked capable of bullying Bivol. It was the best round of the night for Alvarez but, in the 10th, it looked as if his huge effort had taken its toll. Alvarez was unable to sustain that surge of momentum. He barely threw a punch as Bivol settled back into his stylish domination of the contest.
“You have to expect it. It is boxing. No excuses,” said Alvarez, who hadn´t lost in 16 fights since dropping a decision in 2013 to Floyd Mayweather Jr. “I lost today and he won. He´s a really good fighter.”
Bivol was more than that on this night. He was a bigger, slicker fighter who did what Alvarez usually does to his opponents – impose his will on the man across the ring from him.
A 5-1 underdog despite being an undefeated champion, Bivol consistently beat Alvarez to the punch and wasn´t afraid to trade inside with him. He was credited with landing 152 punches to just 85 for Alvarez, and out landed him in every round.
Fighting at 175 pounds always seemed a stretch for Alvarez, who beat Sergey Kovalev in his only other bout at light heavy. Fighting an unbeaten 175-pound champion turned out to be a bridge too far.
“We talked going into this fight how good Dmitry Bivol is, how tough this fight was and it was a punch-perfect performance,” said Eddie Hearn, who promotes Alvarez.
“He had to box exactly the way he did to win the fight. Did Canelo look a little bit flat? Did he look tired? I think it was the brilliance of Dmitry Bivol,” he added.
Alvarez admitted in the week before the fight that he was taking a big chance against Bivol but wanted fights that challenged him.
Acutely aware of his legacy – particularly in Mexico – he was confident he could wear Bivol down over the course of the fight, just as he did before knocking Kovalev out in the 11th round of their 2019 fight.
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