Dmitrii Yuriyevich Bivol vs. Santos Saúl Álvarez Barragán & Zhìlěi Zhāng vs. Scott Alexander RBR

But you did read to know that I'm working overtime.

 

Hey I'm happy for Bivol. It was his night, lets celebrate. This is great for boxing. Lets not detract from Bivol's great win by claiming Canelo is a fraud. Saying Canelo's a fraud devalues what Bivol just did. We need to build fighters up, not tear them down.

 

This is because post-GGG, Canelo has abandoned his boxing skills in favour of walking down lesser fighters with this 'tree-chopping' hook style he has adopted. I think after GGG Canelo learned to trust his chin, and worked on putting everything into setting his feet and breaking guys down to the body (and arms).

The issue with this strategy is that Canelo has not fought a high-quality elite operator since GGG, and the moment he stepped up to a top drawer operator like Bivol, the weaknesses in this strategy become self-evident; he could not get any change out of Bivol's defence, and Bivol's judging of distance allowed him to keep resetting Canelo's feet, disrupting his rythym, leading to gassing and frustration.

So whilst it being @175 and Bivol being bigger were obviously factors, IMO they weren't the main factor - it was that Bivol had elite execution, IQ and ring generalship and - unlike folks saying Bivol was one-dimensional - it was Alvarez that looked like he only had one plan.

 

Great performance by Bivol, he finally met the expectations I had of him years ago when he turned pro. On to the next, an actual LHW beast Arthur Beterbiev.

Canelo deserves big credit for taking this fight. But 115-113x3? Really?

 

Very true and well said. Agree wholeheartedly.

 

A much needed reality check for clenbuterol Canelo. He didn't have Oscar to buy out the judges this time.

 

Holy crap - I've just seen the official scorecards. Bivol had to win the final round to avoid a draw on all 3 and Canelo was 1 up at the end of the 9th.

W.T.F.

 

Scored it 117-111, wife scored it 118-110.

I liked the jab work, defensive work, distance management, and the combination punching that Bivol invested in spots. I feel that he had a lot of respect for Canelo because I think Bivol could've pressed the gas some more in the later rounds, but we all know Canelo is a dangerous guy off the counters.
When Canelo started going on about fighting at heavyweight that’s when I started to wonder if his confidence was turning to arrogance. Pride comes before the fall. Canelo relied too much on his power and didn’t have a plan B when Bivol wasn’t hurt.

Nothing but respect for Canelo for constantly challenging himself.
For future fights for both, I'd like to see Canelo - Benavidez. and I would love to see Bivol - Beterbiev.

I saw where all cards were the same and gave him 1, 2 and 3. 3 is defensible, but I thought the others were clear. Bivol looked great in 2, one of his best rounds.

117-111 then, 116-112 if you really squint and give him 1. It was not 115-113 though. He wasn’t a round short of a draw ffs.

 

Saw a couple of posts on Twitter about how Floyd never fought at 160, 168 or 175, and that he didn't challenge himself.

****, man, casual boxing fans are so stupid. Canelo and Floyd have completely different builds. Floyd couldn't make 168 or 175 even WITH PEDs.

 

Even more dominating.

 

Canelo lost 11-1 yet still wasn't a mile from getting a gift on the scorecards!

 

What the hell were you watching Canelo won at the very most 2 rds and that's being kind to him.

 

Prime Kovelav would've put Canelo in hospital and so would Beterbiev.

 

Fantastic display from Bivol. Canelo also deserves credit for taking the fight. The fact that a lot of people were split on who was going to win shows just how good he is, has been and no doubt has many years left at the top.

A couple of takeaways. I’m surprised Canelo threw so many big shots in the first round, or more the fact that they were so early in the first round, considering he was at 175 and although his stamina has improved, doesn’t have any chance of sustaining that kind of volume over 12 rounds. I guess he knew he had to try and make Bivol respect him early.

Although Canelo didn’t find himself against the ropes as much as the first GGG fight. Bivols extra 2 inches in size and reach meant he could throw very straight shots without putting himself in range, giving Canelo very little chance to counter.

Canelo definitely lacked the same speed in upper body movement that we normally see, although the hand speed was there, he was no where near as effective at evading punches

I really liked the way Bivol in the 5th round where he caught Canelo with a barrage of punches on the rope, very smartly refused to throw punches at Canelo when he tried the macho man dropping the hands and come on throw more. He coolly and calmly went out of range and said ‘nope, not today’ if you aren’t hurt, why don’t you come to me. Only fought on his terms.

In terms of a rematch, Bivol would be an obvious favourite. It’s not impossible but it truly would be a miraculous come back victory if Canelo could pull off something special in the rematch

And lastly, it’s a bit sad that 115-113 may not even make it into the top 5 worst scores on the cards we’ve seen for Canelo. I personally don’t think 116-112 would have been terrible, but it’s past embarrassing now, especially when you consider he actually thought he still had a shot at winning that and had his arms raised before it was announced. Luckily the right man got given the decision, otherwise it would have been even more damaging for Canelo if he’d somehow been gifted a draw

 

Exactly how I scored it