Rare beatdown stuns Alvarez and his fans

Canelo Alvarez paused on his way to the ring to pose with his right fist high in the air, basking in the adulation of thousands of his frenzied fans expecting nothing more on this Cinco de Mayo weekend than another big win by a fighter already considered one of Mexico’s all-time greats.

He left 12 rounds later with his first loss in nine years, seemingly as stunned by the unexpected outcome as the sold-out crowd that came to watch.

Dmitry Bivol didn’t just beat Alvarez on Saturday night at the T-mobile Arena. He gave him a beating in a light heavyweight fight that wasn’t nearly as close as the identical 115-113 cards turned in by the three ringside judges.

And now the questions begin. Did Alvarez take too big of a risk moving up to 175 pounds to take on a tough champion in Bivol? Did the loss to the Russian damage the legacy Alvarez has built in the last decade along with his status as the best pound-forpound fighter in the world?

And, perhaps more important, what becomes of his third fight with Gennadiy Golovkin, a long-awaited mega bout that now surely won’t happen in September as planned, if at all.

One bad night may not wreck Alvarez’s career. He has accomplished way too much for that. But after perhaps his worst outing as a pro, there’s work to be done before he’s talked about in such elevated terms again.

“You have to expect it. It is boxing. No excuses,” said Alvarez, who hadn’t lost in 16 fights since dropping a decision in 2013 to Floyd Mayweather Jr. “I lost today and he won. He’s a really good fighter.”

A 5-1 underdog despite being an undefeated champion, Bivol consistently beat Alvarez to the punch and wasn’t afraid to trade inside with him. He was credited with landing 152 punches to just 85 for Alvarez, and outlanded him in every round.

Fighting at 175 pounds always seemed a stretch for Alvarez, who beat Sergey Kovalev in his only other bout at light heavy. Fighting an unbeaten 175-pound champion turned out to be a bridge too far.

“We talked going into this fight how good Dmitry Bivol is, how tough this fight was and it was a punch-perfect performance,” said Eddie Hearn, who promotes Alvarez. “He had to box exactly the way he did to win the fight. Did Canelo look a little bit flat? Did he look tired? I think it was the brilliance of Dmitry Bivol.”

Alvarez admitted before the fight that he was taking a big chance against Bivol but wanted fights that challenged him. Now there will be new plans, including a possible rematch.