Canelo Álvarez vs. Dmitry Bivol, billed as Legacy is Earned, was a professional boxing match between 4-division world champion, Canelo Álvarez, and defending WBA (Super) light heavyweight champion, Dmitry Bivol. The fight took place on May 7.
Several people were present when Dimitry Bivol wrapped up his training for last Saturday’s match with Canelo Alvarez. These individuals, neutral observers, accorded Bivol scant chance of winning.
Before the fight, many believed that Canelo's experience and power would be too much for Bivol. It's official, one the most anticipated match this year has been confirmed. Canelo Alvarez will fight Dmitry Bivol on May 7. And not only that, if by chance he won against Bivol, Canelo will be facing GGG next (assuming GGG wins his fight with Murata).
Alvarez said, "I am very happy with this fight against Dmitry Bivol. It is another great challenge for me and my career especially as I go up in weight and face an exceptional light heavyweight champion like Bivol. I am also very excited that we have this fight slated for Cinco De Mayo Weekend May 7 for all the fans to enjoy. We will be ready, like we always are."
Bivol said, "I always only wanted to fight the best."
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BoxingScene.com has confirmed that the Mexican superstar has agreed to a lucrative two-fight deal with the streaming service that once signed him to a 10-fight contract that couldve been worth $365 million. This is gonna be a great fight to watch. Both guys has a good potential. Bivol has a foot speed and hand speed with power. And i think Canelo is a great opponent for Bivol. Canelo has also speed and power. He is truly a fighter who is not afraid to challenge himself. If Canelo wins, it is because he has the experience on the big stage. If Bivol wins, he is ready for the big stage. Will let just see.
But we've seen the Canelo was tried to be bully in his fights and it doesn't end good. His opponents gets knock out/down. It's really hard to put a good strategy against Canelo because he developed into a complete fighter. Maybe what Bivol can do is rely on his power and maybe he will get lucky and hit Canelo with a good punch and who knows, Canelo will get his first loss, as you have said, live and die and in the ring for Bivol here.
Canelo is just so focused on the ring, so even if you trash-talk him, disrespect him, it will not make him change his strategy, he will always follow the game plan and always play smart in the ring. I wonder what would happen in this fight, Bivol is the bigger guy but Canelo is a volume puncher so it should not be an advantage for Bivol. Good luck to him though. Canelo is tough as nails and soooo focused. I dont see any way other than a lucky shot by Dmitry that he doesnt take this one. I do however think this will go to the judges score cards at the end and wont be a KO.
From what I've seen on some of the fights of Canelo, I can say that he's a focused and a very determined fighter. His footwork and the way he moves around the ring is very efficient, which makes his enemy spend more stamina and chase around for him. His enemy, I haven't heard much about, though for the size difference, Bivol has an advantage, but perhaps it can be used against him as well. All in all if I were to bet, it will still be for Alvarez. The dude is just methodical on his last bouts and it's hard to beat that.I can also see Alvarez is in advantage here base on experience, though he have not experienced fights in this weight level, but he's far more experienced in boxing than his opponent. Like what you said Canelo has a great footwork, head movements , and very efficient with his punches. Let's see If his opponent can use his size advantage on this fight. I've heard of him before but never watched his fight, I guess he Bivol also have a strong powerful punches. Something that Canelo will be aware of. I'm interested in the 2nd part, a GGG vs Canelo Trilogy if he wins this fight. Well, in terms of chances, I guess GGG and Canelo has a high chance of beating their respective opponent, so the fight that is almost impossible is going to happen soon, hopefully this year. That's what I'm excited about as well. I would love to see GGG and Canelo in one ring. Canelo still has to do his best on this match so he could surely move forward with his fight with GGG. That will be a tough match so Canelo must be ready not just with his match with Bivol but also with his possible match if he'll win this fight. I hope he wouldn't feel too pressured but rather motivated. From what I've seen on some of the fights of Canelo, I can say that he's a focused and a very determined fighter. His footwork and the way he moves around the ring is very efficient, which makes his enemy spend more stamina and chase around for him. His enemy, I haven't heard much about, though for the size difference, Bivol has an advantage, but perhaps it can be used against him as well. All in all if I were to bet, it will still be for Alvarez. The dude is just methodical on his last bouts and it's hard to beat that.
I can also see Alvarez is in advantage here base on experience, though he have not experienced fights in this weight level, but he's far more experienced in boxing than his opponent. Like what you said Canelo has a great footwork, head movements , and very efficient with his punches. Let's see If his opponent can use his size advantage on this fight. I've heard of him before but never watched his fight, I guess he Bivol also have a strong powerful punches. Something that Canelo will be aware of. He did fight at this weight class before, betting Kovalev and win the belt (WBO).So he is familiar with how to make the weight, no problem for him. As for the size advantage, I don't think that Bivol has one, Canelo is known to punished boxers who is taller than him so that negate everyone who thins that their height will be be a problem for him. Canelo is tough as nails and soooo focused. I dont see any way other than a lucky shot by Dmitry that he doesnt take this one. I do however think this will go to the judges score cards at the end and wont be a KO. It will be a beat down if it goes to the judges score cards. Bivol is durable as well, so it's a battle on who has the better chin and power and this advantages goes to Canelo. And I don't think that Bivol will won on the judges. The fight will happen on Cinco de Mayo so for sure Canelo will be favored. The better trained fighter will win this match, and base on the poll, the boxing community chooses Alvarez again.As what we have seen it from the poll, though, it's still unpredictable as we don't have them yet inside the ring. Canelo might have that advantage and he will use everything to make sure that he got the edge in winning this fight. We are all wanted to see a competitive fight a possible toe to toe knowing the characteristics of both fighters.Fans will love seeing them trying to beat one another with heavy punches, overpowering if possible in the earlier rounds.
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I was jotting down notes as I watched the fight. My first notation came in round two. I noted that Canelo landed some hard body shots. A bit later, I noted that although Bivol had the higher work rate, his punches were not of the thudding variety. When Canelo first started fighting with his back to the ropes, eating leather without getting hurt, I thought it was intentional; a psychological ploy.
And as the fight wore on, I anticipated that Canelo’s liver shots would eventually take the starch out of his opponent, giving the Mexican the opening he needed to tilt the fight back in his favor. I was wrong and it wouldn’t have been the first time that my scorecard was off-kilter.
Bivol controlled the bout from the opening bell, using his size and his jab to keep Álvarez at range. Álvarez gained Bivol's attention when he landed a clean right uppercut on his chin to close the fourth round. Bivol used his excellent foot movements and took control of the fight during the mid rounds.
Bivol was warned by referee Russell Mora in the seventh round for pushing Álvarez down. He was not deducted any points. Bivol's arms were bruised due to Álvarez's tactics, the same tactic he had used in his win over Callum Smith where he targeted his arms. Bivol said, "He beat my arm up but not my head. He kept hitting me in the arms, and I kept hitting him in the face ... I expect that. I watched the fight against Callum Smith."
At the end of 12 rounds all three judges scored the bout 115-113 in favour of Bivol. Bivol won the final 3 rounds on all three judges scorecards to avoid anything other than a deserved win. Interestingly, all three judges scored the first four rounds unanimously for Álvarez.
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Bivol first won the WBA interim light heavyweight title in only his seventh professional bout in May 2016, making his first defense of the full WBA world title in 2017, before being designated as Super champion in 2019.
Judges Scorecards
Most of the pundits had Bivol winning big and thought it was nuts that Canelo could have salvaged a draw by winning the final round. “(Bivol) continually battered Canelo throughout the fight,” wrote W.G. Ramirez for the Associated Press.
Despite the widespread public opinion that Bivol was the deserved winner, Álvarez initially disagreed with this notion, stating in his post-fight interview: "I don't feel like I lost the fight... Personally, I felt he [Bivol] only won four or five rounds." He later acknowledged defeat and alluded to an issue hampering his training regimen, "It’s another reason, but I don’t want to say anything and make any excuses. I lost and that’s it. I got tired and that’s it.
This was also Álvarez's first professional loss since 2013 and was on a 16-fight unbeaten streak. Speaking after the fight, Álvarez planned to activate the rematch clause in the contract. He said, "It doesn't end like this. No excuses, I lost today; he is a great boxer ... I felt his power. He comes in and he goes out. He manages his distance really well."
Bivol claimed he was the best in the division and apologised to his promoter Eddie Hearn, who had recently had the Álvarez-Golovkin trilogy fight signed for September 2022.
According to Dan Rafael, the PPV did 520,000 buys worldwide generating between $35 million to $40 million in revenue. The PPV numbers were much lower than the 1 million they had forecasted.
According to reports, Álvarez was to take home a $15 million base up, rising up to $53 million.
A common thread in post-fight stories was that Alvarez, going forward, needs to return to his best fighting weight: 168 pounds.
Before fighting Bivol, Team Canelo provisionally agreed to the date of Sept. 17 (Mexican Independence Day weekend) for Canelo-GGG III. But they let the second do-over marinate beyond the “sell-by” date, waiting until GGG was an old man (he turned 40 last month) and now the fight has even less luster as the Mexican redhead is no longer viewed as a must-see attraction.
Canelo vs. Bivol had a rematch clause which Canelo initially indicated that he would activate before pulling back to give it more thought. As of this writing, no major betting shop has posted odds on this tentative match-up, but all indications are that Bivol would open a small favorite.
Canelo recently adopted a mainly vegan diet.