For the first time in nine years, Canelo Alvarez came away from a fight on the losing end, as Dmitry Bivol successfully defended his WBA (Super) light heavyweight title on Saturday.
This fight for the reigning and undisputed four-belt super middleweight world champion was far from a vintage performance. He landed a mere 84 total punches in the fight, which was his lowest ever for a 12-round bout. Furthermore, he connected on at least 30 percent of power punches in just five total rounds.
In the end, Alvarez finished with a unanimous decision loss against Bivol, scored 115-113 by all three judges.
Much has been talked about whether the move up to 175 was the right call for Alvarez. For the moment, another bout at this weight class is expected to come for him later in the year, as he requested a rematch with Bivol. Overall, Alvarez, as he touched on in his post-fight press conference, shied away from providing an exact answer on if he will be open to taking more fights at 175.
“My most comfortable weight is 168, and that’s where I feel best,” Alvarez said. “We’re going to see if we can take on this rematch.”
This defeat for Alvarez was his first since his majority decision loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2013. This time around with his second career loss, he does not feel as if this defeat hurts as much as it did when his undefeated streak was snapped by Mayweather in the last decade.
“No, I don’t feel that way,” Alvarez said after the loss. “I feel I can come out of this fight with my head held high. I gave the best of me in a different weight class. I’m looking for challenges in my career that take me out of my comfort zone. I’m proud and I’m feeling good.”
A trilogy fight between Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin was slated to come later this year, but for now, the former may go on to instead look to redeem himself against Bivol. In the big picture, it remains to be seen whether Alvarez and Golovkin have indeed already faced off for the final time ever.
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