Promoter Eddie Hearn fully agrees with Dmitry Bivol being tabbed the unanimous decision winner over Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez on Saturday night.
At the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Bivol outboxed and outlanded Canelo over twelve rounds to retain the WBA light heavyweight title.
All three of the official judges scored it 115-113 - but most observers had Bivol further ahead.
Hearn admits he was shocked by Bivol's performance.
The victory potentially derails Canelo's planned trilogy fight with Gennadiy Golovkin - which was going to take place in September.
While some felt Canelo looked flat at the weight, Hearn felt it was simply a case where Bivol was too good.
"We talked going into this fight how good Dmitry Bivol is, how tough this fight was, and it was a punch perfect performance. He had to box exactly how he boxed. The judges had it right for me. He won that fight. Did Canelo look a little bit flat? Was Canelo tired? I think it was the brilliance of Dmitry Bivol," Hearn said.
"Like [Bivol] said, he felt like he was steppingstone to Gennadiy Golovkin - and he was for the career plans of Canelo Alvarez. What a night for him. He dreamed of this night, got the opportunity. There were a lot of Bivol's fights in the pandemic and through the pandemic, where his performances looked a little bit flat. You look at the fight with Craig Richards and Castillo before that, those performances didn't tell you that that form would beat Canelo Alvarez.
"When you have a special fighter like Dmitry Bivol, if you can produce on the night, you can win these big fights. And he produced on unbelievable levels, unbelievable levels. It was the perfect performance at the right time."
