Please don’t attribute what happened to Canelo Alvarez in the ring at T-Mobile Arena on Saturday at the hands of Dmitry Bivol to Bivol’s advantage in size.
That would be wrong.
Size didn’t have an impact on this fight. Bivol retained his WBA light heavyweight title because, on this night at least, he was the better man. He outboxed Alvarez. He outthought him. He out-hustled him.
Bivol didn’t impose his will on a smaller man. He didn’t physically manhandle Alvarez or bully him around the ring. He showed a skill set that had helped him build a 19-0 pro record and win championships in two weight classes, but which people seemed to forget amid Alvarez’s unyielding assault on the history books.