Canelo Alvarez’s high ambition finally caught up with him on Saturday when the king of pounds for the pound met with his match in the form of undefeated WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol.
Alvarez (57-2-2, 39 KOs), a four-division champion, made a career-low 84 shots in 12 rounds as Bivol (20-0, 11 KOs) relied on his defense and accurate shots to endured the upset by a unanimous decision at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. All three referees scored 115-113 for Bivol in a battle that seemed anything but competitive, as CBS Sports scored 119-109 in favor of Bivol.
“I’m sorry I ruined your plans [for a fall trilogy fight against] Gennady Golovkin, maybe, “said Buffalo.” Congratulations [Alvarez], he is a great champion and I respect him. But if you don’t believe in yourself, what do you do? You will achieve nothing. I believe and my team believes. ”
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Six months after becoming the first undisputed champion in the super middleweight category with four belts, Alvarez returned to 175 pounds for the first time since winning the WBC title by knockout by Sergei Kovalev in 2019. But that same week he annoyed a possible future moving into the heavyweight division, Alvarez failed to break through the technical strength of Bivol, a former Russian amateur star whose strength silenced the attack of his opponents.
Buffalo’s shot was accurate all the time, and he consistently responded to each shot taken by Alvarez with clean combinations in return. Buffalo allowed Alvarez to stand close in front of him, but never gave him a clean enough area to land on.
Most of the damage Alvarez suffered was in the left shoulder and arm of Buffalo, who remained firm behind his high guard.
“I felt his strength. “As you can see from my hand, he hit my hand, but not my head,” said Bivol. “He’s better. He had good speed and strength. Maybe his mistake was that he only threw hard punches. After hard punches, he relaxed and got tired.” I felt great. It was the biggest match of my career and I liked this match. When people booed me, it gave me more energy. “
Alvarez, whose previous only loss was against Floyd Mayweather in 2013, was associated with just 17% of his shots against Buffalo and was ahead of 152 to 84, according to CompuBox.
“He’s a great champion. Sometimes in boxing you win or you lose. I lost today and he won,” Alvarez said. “He’s a really good fighter. He’s a fighter who comes in and out. I also felt his strength. It was a good victory for him.”
After the match, Alvarez shared hopes for a rematch, which Buffalo seemed prone to.
“Revenge? No problem. Let’s talk about rematch,” said Bivol. “I took this battle because I just wanted the opportunity and I appreciate the opportunity. I’m ready for the rematch, I just want to be sure that I will win and now I’m being treated like a champion. “
Elsewhere in the map, Montana Love won a unanimous decision against Gabriel Gollaz in a battle in which both men were knocked down in the first few rounds. However, the rest of the match did not reach the same level of excitement. Shahram Giyasov also won a decision against Christian Gomez, while the promising Marc Castro continued his development with a victory over Pedro Vincente.
CBS Sports will be with you all night in Las Vegas, so be sure to follow the live scores and highlights below.
Alvarez vs. Buffalo battle card, results
- Dmitry Bivol (c) def. Saul “Canelo” Alvarez with unanimous decision (115-113, 115-113, 115-113)
- Montana Love Def. Gabriel Golaz with unanimous decision (114-112, 114-112, 114-112)
- Shahram Giyasov def. Christian Gomez with unanimous decision (99-88, 99-88, 98-89)
- Mark Castro def. Pedro Vicente with unanimous decision (60-54, 60-54, 60-54)
- Zhilei Zhang def. Scott Alexander knocked out in the first round
Alvarez vs. Buffalo
Alvarez9999999910999109Bivol (c) 10101010101010109101010119
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