LAS VEGAS – Canelo Alvarez’s perspective on his unanimous-decision defeat to Dmitry Bivol changed from the time he left the ring Saturday night until the start of his post-fight press conference more than an hour later.
Alvarez was deferential toward Bivol and seemingly more realistic about the outcome of their fight during his interview with DAZN’s Chris Mannix in the ring. After he took time to reflect, though, the Mexican superstar contended that he had done enough to beat Bivol in their 12-round, 175-pound title fight at T-Mobile Arena.
“Personally, I’m feeling good. I’m not giving any excuses,” Alvarez said, according to his translator. “I do feel that I won the fight. And I think perhaps, you know, maybe I lost four or five rounds, but I definitely didn’t lose the fight.”
Judges Tim Cheatham, Dave Moretti and Steve Weisfeld scored their fight for Bivol’s WBA light heavyweight title identically, 115-113 for Bivol.
All three judges scored each of the first four rounds for Alvarez, who led 40-36 on their cards entering the fifth round. They then scored seven of the final eight rounds apiece for the unbeaten Bivol.
Bivol led 105-104 through 11 rounds on each card, thus he needed to win the 12th round on at least two scorecards to avoid a majority draw.
CompuBox credited Bivol for a wider win than the judges.
According to CompuBox’s unofficial statistics, Bivol connected on 68 more punches than Alvarez (152-of-710 to 84-of-495). CompuBox counted more power punches (106-of-292 to 74-of-266) and more jabs (46-of-418 to 10-of-229) for Bivol, who took Alvarez’s power well and frustrated the four-division champion with his determination and skill.
“I think I got a little bit tired towards the final rounds, but I felt good,” Alvarez said. “So, we’ll see what’s next. As I said, I don’t feel I lost the fight, maybe some rounds. Maybe, you know, the weight was a slight issue. It made me feel not 100 percent during the fight.”
Alvarez appeared fatigued in the final few rounds and didn’t throw nearly as many punches as Bivol, who often got off combinations and made Alvarez respect his power. The 31-year-old Alvarez moved back up to the light heavyweight division to try to become a two-time 175-pound champion, but the Guadalajara native admitted that he is better suited to compete at the super middleweight limit of 168 pounds.
“I think I’m always going out looking for difficult fights,” Alvarez said. “I went up and looked for this difficult fight. But naturally, I feel good at 168. I’m always up for taking on new challenges, but that’s boxing. Tonight, I was looking for greatness.”
Alvarez (57-2-2, 39 KOs) has won world titles in four weight classes and was commonly considered the best boxer, pound-for-pound, in the sport prior to his loss to Bivol. He fought to a controversial split draw with middleweight rival Gennadiy Golovkin in September 2017 at T-Mobile Arena, but his decisive defeat to Russia’s Bivol (20-0, 11 KOs) was Alvarez’s first loss since retired pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather convincingly beat him in their 12-round, 154-pound title fight in September 2013 at MGM Grand Garden Arena.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
