Biyol outpunched Canelo to shock world
Dmitry Bivol shocked the world by beating the world’s No. 1 pound-forpound fighter Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez for the first time in nine years.
He defended the WBA light heavyweight title on Saturday night at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Bivol with an unbeaten record of 20 fights with 11 knockouts, won by unanimous decision, using a strong jab, sound footwork and kept constant pressure on Alvarez, who had not lost since Floyd Mayweather beat him in September 2013.
Judges Tim Cheatham, Dave Moretti and Steve Weisfeld all scored it 115-113 for Bivol.
Coming off a historical victory last November in becoming the first undisputed super middleweight champion, Alvarez (57-2-2, 39 KOs) could not get on track against the 31-year-old Russian.
As early as the third, Alvarez’s face was marked up and red.
In the sixth round, Bivol’s left eye was swelling from Alvarez right uppercuts. But Bivol did a fine job through the first half of the fight keeping Alvarez away with the jab.
Through six rounds, Bivol outlanded Alvarez 71-40. Punch stats showed Alvarez punched in single digits each of the first six rounds.
Although, Alvarez was landing the heavier punches. Through nine rounds, Bivol outlanded Alvarez 110-61.
Bivol landed double-digit punches in every round but the 10th, while Alvarez could only land double-digit punches in only the ninth and 11th rounds.
Bivol almost doubled Canelo’s punch output, 152/710 (21.4 per cent ) to 84/495 (17 per cent). -Matchroom