Is Canelo Alvarez in Denial About his Loss to Dmitry Bivol?
The boxing world is still buzzing from Dmitry Bivol’s (20-0, 11 KOs) upset win over Canelo Alvarez (57-2-2, 39 KOs) to retain the WBA Super light heavyweight title. Before the fight, most fans and pundits felt Alvarez would take care of business and have his hand raised in victory. But Bivol had different plans. He took control early and never relented. The 31-year-old left the ring with the biggest win of his professional career.
It was a shocking result for Alvarez supporters. During the post-fight press conference, the loser was rather defiant. Alvarez told the media he did enough to win. He seemed to view the fight as a minor blip on the radar.
DEFIANT IN DEFEAT
(Translated from Spanish) “I’m feeling good. I’m not giving any excuses. I do feel that I won the fight. I do not personally believe I lost more than 4 or 5 rounds. But I definitely didn’t lose the fight.
I think I got a little bit tired towards the later rounds, but I felt good. So, we’ll see what’s next. As I say, I don’t feel like I lost the fight, maybe some rounds. Maybe the weight was a slight issue and made me feel not 100 percent during the fight.”
Alvarez further felt his defense was not given enough credit by the judges. He felt he blocked most of the punches and made the light heavyweight champ miss quite a bit.
WHAT TRULY HAPPENED
Alvarez may feel that Bivol won only four or five rounds, however, here’s the problem. During large chunks of the fight, the redhead was looking to land only with power shots. He largely disregarded the jab. The ability to cut off the ring was virtually non-existent. There was no creativity or variety in his attack. At times, the effort was lethargic and uninspired.
Conversely, Bivol was more active and was first and last during most of the exchanges. He won the battle of the jabs and avoided most of Alvarez’s power shots. Boxing is the art of hitting and not getting hit. Bivol did that to a tee for most of the fight.
As Alvarez acknowledged to the media, he tired in the championship rounds. It was Bivol who finished stronger. In general, the defending champion had the attitude of someone who wanted it more from beginning to end. While the redhead felt he did enough to win, most fans and pundits disagree. On many boxing message boards and throughout social media, the consensus is that Bivol did more than enough to win.
So, the question becomes, what does Alvarez do next? The undisputed super middleweight champ has a rematch clause. At the post-fight presser, the fighter as well as his trainer, Eddy Reynoso, suggested they want to run it back.
An Alvarez win over Bivol was supposed to be a springboard towards a trilogy with unified middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin in September. For the time being, that train has been derailed. Now all roads are seemingly headed towards fighting Bivol again. If Alvarez is to win, he has put up a far better effort than what was shown on May 7.
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By: Michael Wilson Jr.
