Dmitry Bivol shocked Saúl “Canelo” Álvarez, his devastated army of fans, all of Mexico and boxing itself when he retained his WBA light heavyweight title with a consummate victory on points in Las Vegas on Saturday night. Bivol, the 31-year-old Russian, improves his record to a perfect 20-0 but none of his previous victories come close to the magnitude of this utterly dominant win over the feted Álvarez. Bivol was awarded the decision on all three scorecards by a scandalously narrow margin of 115-113.
Álvarez’s bruised, cut and swollen face, and dejected demeanour through much of the fight, told the real story. Bivol’s significant advantages in size, power and speed made the difference. He was simply too big, too fast, too skilful and too concentrated for Álvarez, who won his first world title at 154bs – which is 21 pounds lighter than the division where he suffered such a painful defeat at the T-Mobile Arena.
