By Rich Mancuso
We witnessed Canelo Alvarez go down to defeat Saturday night at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas and that in itself is rare. The last time Alvarez went down to defeat was his only blemish to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2013
Alvarez, though, keeps his titles at 168. He decided to take on WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol in attempt to become a two-time champion in that division but his plan for continued supremacy was met with another dominant champion.
Bivol won a majority decision. Alvarez in his fourth fight with an undefeated opponent lost for the first time.
A decision of 115-113, on all three judges’ scorecards and the first four rounds were scored for Alvarez, difficult, though, to understand why or how. The final round went to Bivol and had it gone the other way the bout would have been declared a draw.
Bivol, on my scorecard, was the dominant fighter and won 9- of- 12 rounds. Regardless, the story here is Alvarez because the best fighter on the planet and face of boxing met his match.
Bivol accepted the challenge and only those in boxing circles knew his ability as the technical fighter and power of his punches. The Russian was a major underdog, ignoring the partisan crowd of Alvarez supporters.
Bivol, as he has done in previous 19 undefeated fights, made his statement in the first round, despite judges seeing it the other way. Alvarez shared the ring with a technician and could not adjust.
“It doesn’t end like this,” Alvarez said. “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.”
“I don’t feel like I lost the fight,” Alvarez said..” Personally, I felt he only won four or five rounds. Maybe the weight was a slight issue and made me feel less than 100 percent. We want the rematch, and we’re going to do better in the rematch.”
Bivol was asked about a rematch. He said, “No problem” However the champion may have other options on the table and his agenda is to unify the titles
But Alvarez in defeat said he won the fight. A majority will disagree and though there were no knockdowns it is obvious he should take care of business and face potential fights at 168 as there are viable opponents waiting for an opportunity.
David Benavidez is seeking to regain the titles and returns May 21, opposing David Lemieux for the vacant WBC interim super middleweight title in a bout televised on Showtime Boxing from Glendale, Arizona.
Alvarez, the richest free agent pro fighter has a current two fight mega million deal with Matchroom Boxing and DAZN the streaming network and on a pay-per-view platform. The plan was to oppose his adversary, Gennady Golovkin for a third time in mid-September. That fight now appears to be in the balance as Alvarez may take extended time away from the ring and seek a rematch with Bivol.
The loss, though, does not take away the popularity of Alvarez as a majority of his fans from Mexico continued to cheer on their icon as he went down to a rare defeat. Prior to this attempt of taking another title, Alvarez came in as a four- division champion. At 31-years of age he made it known there will be at least another eight years of boxing to come.
And this loss does not diminish what has been accomplished, though fighting outside of 168 could hinder his quest to continue a legacy as one of the greatest fighters of all-time.
“Tonight, I was looking for greatness,” Alvarez said. “I have many years ahead of me and I’m going to come back stronger.”
But the question again remains about this legacy if Canelo decides to continue that quest at light heavyweight or beyond.
Rich Mancuso a special correspondent for the New York Beacon as well as the senior writer @Latinosports.com Twitter @Ring786 Facebook.com/Rich Mancuso Watch Rich and Robert “The Wiz” Rizzo live Tuesday evening 10pmET ParrotTV.com YouTube Live “Sports With Rich” Like, Comment, Subscribe.
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