Unbeaten champion Dmitry Bivol retained his WBA light-heavyweight world title with a stunning upset victory over Mexican Saul “Canelo” Alvarez on Saturday at the packed T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
All three judges – Steve Weisfeld, Dave Moretti, and Tim Cheatham – scored the bout 115-113 for Bivol, who improved to 20-0 (win-loss) with 11 knockouts. Alvarez, the pound-for-pound king, dropped to 57-2 with two draws after the defeat.
In November, Alvarez came into the fight as the odds-on favorite, having made boxing history when he stopped Caleb Plant to unite all four super middleweight championship belts.
He had fought at light-heavyweight before, pulling off an 11th-round knockout win over Sergey Kovalev in November 2019 to grab the WBO 175-pound title.
But Alvarez was unable to replicate his performance against Bivol as the latter pressured the former relentlessly throughout the bout.
“I felt his power, you can see on my arm. He beat my arm up but not my head. I proved myself today. I’m the best,” Bivol said in the post-fight interview.
Alvarez tried to give his all in the final round, but his combinations did not affect Bivol’s resolve as the latter cruised to a shocking win.
