Dmitry Bivol stuns the world defeating Canelo Alvarez

In the sport of boxing pound for pound great Canelo Alvarez may be the biggest unicorn in the sport. There's simply nothing this man cannot do or hasn’t done. On Saturday Alvarez may have met his biggest challenge in WBA (super) light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol. Alvarez (57-2-2, 39 KOs), a four-division champion, landed a career-low 84 punches overall. Bivol (20-0, 11 KOs) was the bigger fighter and he relied on defense and timely punching to pull the upset via unanimous decision inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. All three judges scored it 115-113 for Bivol.

"I'm sorry I ruined your plans [for a fall trilogy fight against] Gennadiy Golovkin, maybe," Bivol said. "Congrats to [Alvarez], he's a great champion and I respect him. But if you don't believe in yourself, what do you do? You won't achieve anything. I believe and my team believes."

The major move up in weight seemed to bother the ambitious Alvarez. Alvarez has fought at 175 previously and knocked out former champion Sergey Kovalev in 2019. Bivol was much more formidable than Kovalev was and Bivol’s overall strength was too much. Bivol had an active jab that consistently landed home on Alvarez. Bivol was able to land punches. Bivol also did something that not alot of Alvarez’s opponents do. He allowed Alvarez to stand at close range in front of him but never gave him a clean enough strike zone to land upon.

Most of the damage Alvarez did connect on was to the left shoulder and arm which generated a purple welt on Bivol arm but he ultimately had no effect on the bigger man. "I felt his power. As you can see from my arm, he beat my arm up but not my head," Bivol said. "It's better. He had good speed and power. Maybe his mistake was that he threw only hard punches. After hard punches, he relaxed and tired."I was feeling great. This was the biggest fight of my career and I enjoyed this fight. When the people booed me, it gave me more energy."

Alvarez only landed 17% of his punches which is a career low for him. Bivol outlanded Alvarez 154 to 84. With this fight in the books and Alvarez being outclassed. One can only ask. What’s next for Alvarez? He was scheduled to square off in a rubber match against his rival Gennady “GGG” Golovokin in September but after this loss the talks of a rematch sparked on both sides. "He's a great champion. Sometimes in boxing, you win or lose. I lost today and he won," Alvarez said. "He's a really good fighter. He's a fighter who comes in and goes out. I also felt his power. It was a good victory for him."

"A rematch? No problem. Let's talk about a rematch," Bivol said. "I took this fight because I just wanted the opportunity and I appreciate the opportunity. I am ready for the rematch, I just want to make sure I win and am treated like a champion now."