LAS VEGAS – WBA welterweight champion Dmitry Bivol retained his title, defeating Saul Canello Alvarez by unanimous decision Saturday night.
The undefeated Buffalo (20-0, 11 KOs), who has a version of his belt since May 2016, gave Alvarez (57-2-2, 39 KOs) only the second defeat of his career.
Alvarez returned to the heaviest weight of his career to fight for the 175-pound title.
Alvarez would fight in the light heavyweight division only once more in his career, defeating Sergei Kovalev at the end of 2019.
After the battle with a trio of very close rounds began, it was clear that Bivol would be able to use his range and height to strengthen Alvarez and keep him at bay when attacking with his powerful blows.
Alvarez sometimes tried to use his intimidating tactics to make fun of Buffalo.
With a rematch clause in the contract, Alvarez then said in the ring that he wanted a rematch with the Kyrgyz-born Russian champion.
Buffalo replied, “No problem.”
Dmitry Bivol celebrates after his victory over Saul “Canello” Alvarez.AP
In the co-main event at £ 140, Montana Love (18-0-1, 10 KOs) defeated Gabriel Valenzuela (25-3-1, 15 KOs) by unanimous decision with identical results from the three judges (114-112). With the victory, Lyubov established herself as a contender in the junior welterweight category.
Also from the main undercard Shahram Giyasov (13-0, 9 KOs) defeated Christian Gomez (22-3-1, 20 KOs) with a unanimous decision (98-89, 99-88, 99-88) in a 10-round match in the welterweight division. category.
Marc Castro (7-0, 5 KOs) won by unanimous decision (60-54) over Pedro Vicente (7-5-1, 2 KOs).
Zhilei Zhang (24-0-1, 19 KOs) knocked out Scott Alexander with just 1:54 in the first round of the heavyweight bout. Alexander was a substitute after Filip Hrgovic was forced to withdraw from his planned match against Zhang.
Earlier on Saturday, Joselito Velazquez (15-0-1, 10 KOs) won by technical knockout in the 6th round over Jose Soto (15-2, 6 KOs).
Aaron Silva (10-0, 7 KOs) won by technical knockout in the fourth round over Alexis Espino (9-1-1, 6 KOs).
Elnur Abduraimov (9-0, 8 KOs) won by technical knockout in the second round over Mani Korea (11-1, 7 KOs).
Fernando Molina (8-0, 3 KOs) won by split over Ricardo Valdovinos (8-2, 5 KOs) with 58-56, 57-56 for Molina and 57-56 for Valdavinos.
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