on Saturday night. Bivol, the 31-year-old Russian, improves his record to a perfect 20-0 but none of his previous victories come close to the magnitude of this utterly dominant win over the feted Alvarez. Bivol was awarded the decision on all three scorecards by a scandalously narrow margin of 115-113.
It was notable as early as the second round that Bivol used his strength to push Alvarez back so that enough distance would emerge for him to clip the smaller challenger with his crisp punching. As Bivol’s authority was immediately obvious, Alvarez tried to break up the champion’s rhythm in the fourth round by attempting to turn the bout into a dog-fight. Bivol remained implacable, letting his punches flow in sharp salvos which discouraged Alvarez.
Alvarez looked so desperate and frustrated in the penultimate round that, rather than searching for the knockout blow he appeared to need, he lifted Bivol off his feet and carried him briefly on his back. It was unedifying and futile. Bivol tattooed him with the jab to win yet another round. In 2017, when most reasonable and fair-minded observers believed that Gennady Golovkin had beaten him at this very same arena, Alvarez was saved by a dubious draw. There was further controversy at the T-Mobile Arena exactly a year later, in September 2018, when many people thought that Alvarez was again lucky to win the rematch on points. That decision was less murky but it was another salutary reminder of how difficult it is to win a decision against Alvarez here.
The champion had remained in the shadows for much of the week. He was happy for most of the attention to swamp Alvarez and, stoically and patiently, Bivol answered the few questions that were put to him.
“You have to accept it, it’s boxing,” Alvarez said through a translator. “He’s a great champion. Sometimes in boxing, you win. Sometimes you lose. Not making excuses. I lost today and he won.”
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