Canelo's reaction to taking the fight at the full 175 limit, "I don't care about the weight." He fully expected weight to have no bearing on the outcome of this fight. All the commentators pointed out prior to the opening bell was how calm, relaxed, loose, and confident Canelo appeared in the locker room vs the rigid, unexpressive, inexperienced Bivol.
Canelo came out to the ring, his team smiling, band playing, girls dancing, they fully expected to knock Bivol out, they assessed he would be easier pickings and less of a threat than Sergei Kovalev. Bivol only had 19 professional fights and hasn't been shown to possess great KO or stopping power.
Any poster, fan, or boxing pundit sugar coating this "upset" loss by stating he "took a risk" are being dishonest in your assessment; I disagree with you fully. All indicators show that Bivol was not expected by Team Canelo or the Boxing World to be nothing more than a typical challenge and typical result for Alvarez. Canelo was an overwhelming favorite in the same vein as Tyson-Douglas. No one expected Bivol to win and even if he lasted the distance he surely wouldn't win a decision...against Alvarez, his crowd, his judges, his arena, on Cinco de Mayo weekend?!!!
The fact the judges cheated Bivol out of many rounds and he still won a unanimous decision makes the outcome of this fight an upset on every level. Some may say Canelo took a risk in fighting Bivol but on paper this was no heroic gamble for glory but a true cherrypick gone wrong.
Canelo came out to the ring, his team smiling, band playing, girls dancing, they fully expected to knock Bivol out, they assessed he would be easier pickings and less of a threat than Sergei Kovalev. Bivol only had 19 professional fights and hasn't been shown to possess great KO or stopping power.
Any poster, fan, or boxing pundit sugar coating this "upset" loss by stating he "took a risk" are being dishonest in your assessment; I disagree with you fully. All indicators show that Bivol was not expected by Team Canelo or the Boxing World to be nothing more than a typical challenge and typical result for Alvarez. Canelo was an overwhelming favorite in the same vein as Tyson-Douglas. No one expected Bivol to win and even if he lasted the distance he surely wouldn't win a decision...against Alvarez, his crowd, his judges, his arena, on Cinco de Mayo weekend?!!!
The fact the judges cheated Bivol out of many rounds and he still won a unanimous decision makes the outcome of this fight an upset on every level. Some may say Canelo took a risk in fighting Bivol but on paper this was no heroic gamble for glory but a true cherrypick gone wrong.