Dmitry Bivol is just the second man in 66 fights to manage to hand Saul ‘Canelo‘ Alvarez a defeat.
The elite Mexican paused his dominating super-middleweight run to move up to light-heavyweight for the second time and face Bivol, three years after he beat Sergey Kovalev in the same division.
The Russian’s incredible skillset was on show throughout the twelve rounds, utilising a stellar jab and his extra bulk to keep Canelo from sustained periods of success. All three judges gave it to Bivol with the scores 115-113.
It ended a run of three stoppage wins for Canelo, who has 39 knockouts from 62 wins in all. Speaing at the post-fight press conference, Bivol said his opponent has ‘really good power’ but that it may not translate well enough to the light-heavyweight ranks.
“I felt his power. He has really good power. He has good speed, good power, good sense, but some people are born with the power. I don’t have that type of power. I can throw a power punch if I want to put the power into my punch, I can do it intentionally and some other boxers, they have power in every punch. They can just throw a punch and it’s already powerful. To be honest, as a light-heavyweight, I didn’t feel like he had that power that you get from birth, I felt like he was just putting everything he can into every punch and trying to make it powerful.”
Bivol has since co-starred in an undisputed bout against another power-puncher in Artur Beterbiev, losing on points.
Canelo has returned to 168 pounds and is currently on a run of five victories as unified champion. His next bout is being planned for May 2025.
