Canelo complained, the Russian fought like Ali. How Bivol became a superstar in one fight

Canelo complained, the Russian fought like Ali. How Bivol became a superstar in one fight

Sergey Sorokin December 4, 2023, 20:00 Moscow time

The Mexican was the best on the planet, but next to Dmitry he seemed defenseless.

On May 7, 2022, one of the most iconic fights in the history of Russian professional boxing took place. Dmitry Bivol defended his WBA Super world title. And the rivals turned out to be the formidable Saúl Álvarez. The Mexican was the best boxer in the world, regardless of weight categories, and absolute world champion at the second middleweight. And most importantly, the only defeat in Canelo’s career was inflicted by the legendary Floyd Mayweather. The big battle in Las Vegas (USA) was supposed to answer the question of how prepared Bivol is for such serious challenges.

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Bivol approached the confrontation with Canelo undefeated – 19-0. And in the previous fight he fought with the Russian Umar Salamov. Dmitry defended his belt by unanimous decision: 119-109, 118-109, 118-110. But now our compatriot faced a test of a completely different level. Saúl did not lose to anyone for nine years, although he moved between weight classes and fought with opponents of the highest class. Especially significant were the victories over Gennady Golovkin and Sergey Kovalev.

The fight itself met all the expectations of professional boxing fans. The first four rounds were exciting and extremely competitive. Canelo took the initiative and worked as number one, while Dmitry patiently waited for his opportunity and was ready to spot his opponent’s mistakes. Before the halfway point of the fight, it seemed that Álvarez had chosen the ideal tactic, to calmly take the victory to his treasure. But Bivol did not agree to this. In the seventh round, the initiative finally passed to the Russian, who began to outperform the Mexican literally in every aspect.

Dmitry Bivol – Saúl Álvarez

Photo: Ethan Miller/Getty Images

Dmitry fluttered like a butterfly and stinged like a bee. He looked like Muhammad Ali and seemed almost perfect. The Russian was much faster than the Mexican, the entire fight he was one step, or even two ahead. It became clear that Bivol was initially planned for the later rounds, as he was in a more optimal functional state. Canelo could only complain to the judges and fight back. And the Russian won round after round, completely surpassing the Mexican. And Saul seemed more and more helpless. In the last two three-minute rounds, Dmitry only confirmed that he was ideally prepared for his opponent.

The matter reached the decision of the judge, who sided with the Russian: 115-113 on three occasions. Bivol caused a big surprise that shocked the entire world of professional boxing. It should be noted that some experts were even quick to criticize the referee’s assessments. But just because they considered Dmitry’s advantage to be more complete, they did not agree with the tied result. Bivol himself did not worry about this, as he defeated the best boxer on the planet and became a real superstar.

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It is worth noting that after the fight itself, Canelo behaved very strangely. At first he admitted that Dmitry was stronger in all aspects: “No, I don’t think he did enough to win. You have to accept it, that’s boxing. He is a great champion. In boxing you not only win, you also lose. “There are no excuses, today I lost.”

But just a few hours later, the Mexican abruptly changed his mind. Apparently, Álvarez quickly decided to start promoting revenge. And this is quite difficult to do at the moment when you admit the complete defeat of your opponent.

Saul Alvarez

former leader of the pound-for-pound ranking, absolute world champion at super middleweight

“I won the fight. I think I maybe lost four or five rounds. But I definitely didn’t lose the fight.”

The Mexican’s screams continued for a long time, but the fact remains. Dmitry won a big victory and caused a big surprise. And most importantly, he became a real superstar, who began to be highly appreciated all over the world. After this, the Russian managed to have another fight, in which he faced Gilberto Ramírez. And on December 23 in Saudi Arabia, Bivol will have another title defense: a fight with Lyndon Arthur.