Despite heading into his showdown against Dmitry Bivol as a sizable favorite, the Russian native proved to be a far more complex puzzle than Canelo Alvarez initially realized.

Unwilling to capitulate and crumble underneath Alvarez’s power, Bivol implemented a well-thought-out game plan, resulting in a unanimous decision victory on May 7th. Although the pound-for-pound star appeared to be on his way to an immediate rematch, handlers of the 32-year-old shifted course, pushing him to finish his long-standing rivalry with Gennadiy Golovkin.