It was Canelo Alvarez’s crowd, but it was Dmitry Bivol’s night in Las Vegas.
Bivol (20-0, 11 KOs) defended his WBA light heavyweight title with a unanimous decision over Alvarez (57-2-2, 39 KOs) that was not nearly as close as the 115-113 scorecards suggested. The Russian outboxed Canelo, made the most of his size and reach advantage, and perhaps surprised the Mexican star with his blinding speed and quick combination work.
Even though Bivol has beaten several top 175 lbs fighters in his career, Canelo is his hallmark win. Alvarez thought he could get another light heavyweight title after KOing Sergey Kovalev in 2019, but Bivol had other ideas and executed a magnificent gameplan based off of his terrific jab.