Dmitry Bivol Not Surprised by Judges’ Scorecards in Canelo Fight
The boxing world is still shocked after witnessing another big upset in boxing. WBA Super light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol (20-0, 11KOs) did the unthinkable by defeating pound for pound kingpin and undisputed super middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (57-2-2, 39KOs).
Some fans are probably watching the replay, trying to see if last night was just a bad dream. Bivol has been looking for this fight for a long time. He once claimed that coming down to super middleweight was an option to make the fight in 2018.
Bivol has always maintained that fighting the Mexican superstar was never about money but more about making history. Many inside the boxing community were dismissive of the WBA champion’s chances of winning simply because of his lack of aggression in past fights. He was deemed a boring fighter with no killer instinct and that Alvarez would chew him up and spit him out like everyone else. Bivol was being overlooked, as fans looked toward Canelo’s trilogy with two-time middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin.
JUDGES’ SCORECARDS ALWAYS FAVOR CANELO
Bivol received criticism after indicating that the game plan was easy-work, believing that winning a decision was possible. Several enthusiasts thought that was the wrong mindset, as Canelo losing on a scorecard was unfathomable. In 2013, he received a grossly favorable scorecard of a draw from CJ Ross in a fight against the face of boxing, Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Alvarez would continue to enjoy the perks of bias scorecards from the judges in high-profile fights. Examples include judge Levi Martinez’s 117-111 card in the Erislandy Lara fight, 118-109 from judge Stan Christodoulou against Austin Trout, and 119-10 from judge Dave Moretti versus Miguel Cotto. To continue, preceding the stoppage, all three judges had Canelo comfortably ahead in the Billy Joe Saunders fight. Against Golovkin in 2017, judge Adalaide Byrd scored 118-110 for Canelo.
BIVOL IS NOT SURPRISED BY SCORECARDS
Bivol was able to get the controversial unanimous decision against Alvarez. It appeared that if he would not have won the last round, the judges were ready to rob him with scores reading 115-113. Those scorecards were absurd as Bivol dominated the fight to a tune of 118-110, or 117-111 at worst. Social media also went bananas after hearing how close the judges scored the fight as the vast majority of the boxing community had it 117-111.
During the post-fight interview, Bivol, the second man to have conquered Alvarez, was not surprised as everything was against him.
“I little bit thought when I heard the scores 115-113, I thought maybe I lost today. But, I felt I won you know, I expect that. It’s everything against me today.”
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By: Garrisson Bland
