Boxing’s pound-for-pound king Canelo Alvarez lost for the first (official) time since 2013, Carla Esparza beat Rose Namajunas to become the strawweight queen over seven years after her first reign ended, and Charles Oliveira won his fight but lost the belt anyway.
Though it didn’t have the entertainment factor of some of the fights on the UFC main card, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (57-2-2) and Dmitri Bivol (20-0) had the best fight that lasted longer than six minutes.
The Fight
Canelo started off slow, as he often does, trying to feel out his opponent. The main difference is that most of the time he’s able to pick it up in the later rounds. Bivol, however, kept a consistent pace and prevented Canelo from doing so.
Bivol came out of the gate with a high work rate and put the pressure on Canelo. He relied heavily on his jab and a high guard, a style quite similar to that of many successful amateurs1 with slight adaptations to make it more effective on the professional level. Many opponents have been able to outwork Canelo, but his well-timed counterpunches come with significantly more force than the opponent's punches and are often enough to win him rounds. Bivol’s output was even higher than most of Canelo’s opponents, making it harder for Canelo to win rounds with a handful of effective counters and making each of those counters harder to time. On top of that, Bivol’s defense was superb. Canelo was throwing the same lead hook counters that landed on most opponents, but Bivol was regularly able to step back from the hook and resume his offense before Canelo could bring his guard back.
The other main thing Bivol did, as mentioned above, was keep his high pace consistent throughout the course of the fight. Alvarez can usually slowly wear opponents down with punches to the body. Per Compubox stats, in his last two fights against Caleb Plant and Billy Joe Saunders, Canelo landed on average 4.84 body shots per round. Against Bivol, he landed just 3.58 per round. As a result, he wasn’t able to wear Bivol down in the same way, and Bivol was able to keep pushing to make the most of his output. This also served to keep Canelo on the back foot. Despite being the smaller man and having less output in the majority of his fights, Canelo is usually able to walk down his opponents. Whether due to Bivol’s output or his ability to take Canelo’s power without much difficulty (most likely a combination of the two) Bivol was the aggressor for almost the entirety of the twelve-round affair.
Finally, Canelo’s defense wasn’t the same as it usually is. Typically Canelo has highlight-worthy slips and rolls, none of which were present. Whether it was adapting to the larger frame, Bivol drowning him in volume, or Bivol’s speed and timing, the defense on display was not what has come to be expected out of Alvarez.
The Scorecards
Though the right man won, the judges’ scoring came into question almost immediately. All three scored it 115-113 (or seven rounds to five) in favor of Bivol. I scored the fight 117-111, which is what the DAZN broadcast’s unofficial scorecard (courtesy of Chris Mannix) had as well. Through the first four rounds all three judges had Alvarez ahead 4-0; most fans had it 3-1 in favor of Bivol. This discrepancy is the perfect embodiment of what it’s like to try to beat Canelo. If you’re going to win a decision you essentially start down a few rounds because he gets the benefit of the doubt. Whether you want to blame judges’ subconscious deference to the favorite, not wanting to ruin boxing’s cash cow, or something more nefarious, the result is the same: to truly beat Canelo his opponent can’t allow it to be remotely close.
What Comes Next?
For Bivol, there are two clear paths forward. One is fighting the winner of the June title unification between Artur Beterbiev and Joe Smith Jr. to be crowned the undisputed champion at light heavyweight. Bivol has already beat Smith Jr. by a wide unanimous decision in 2019, but either fighter has the potential to make things difficult for Bivol.
It’s worth keeping in mind that Bivol can sometimes fight to the level of his competition; despite dethroning the pound-for-pound king this weekend he barely edged out a win over a domestic-level British fighter in Craig Richards last May. So rather than risk losing to a strong but lesser-known fighter in Beterbiev or Smith Jr. (or even worse, lose a tune-up fight) he’d be best served to take the other option, which makes much more sense, a rematch with Alvarez. After beating him handedly, making a massive statement to the rest of the boxing world, and making what should be by far the biggest payday of his career, there’s no reason Bivol shouldn’t grant Canelo’s wish for a rematch and get what’d likely be an even bigger payday.
On Canelo’s side, the rematch seems to be what he wants. There had been an agreement for a trilogy fight with Gennady Golovkin (42-1-1) contingent on Golovkin defeating Ryota Murata and Alvarez besting Bivol. Golovkin took care of business with a ninth-round TKO last month. Unfortunately for the pair of them, Canelo wasn’t able to do the same. Canelo could still take that third Golovkin fight, though with how Golovkin has looked in recent years it wouldn’t likely be particularly competitive and just serve to bolster the bank account of both fighters. Other options are Jermall Charlo (32-0) and David Benavidez (25-0) but it seems unlikely he’d square off with either of them prior to fighting one or both of Bivol and Golovkin first. This supposition isn’t much more than that, however, as Alvarez seems intent on the Bivol rematch for his next fight.
Other Notable Results
Charles Oliveira defeated Justin Gaethje but still lost his lightweight title as he was unable to make the 155-pound limit. After weighing in at exactly 155 pounds in his hotel room and backstage on digital scales provided by the UFC, Oliveira came in at 155.5 pounds on the official scale. In the fight Oliveira was knocked down but recovered and submitted Gaethje in the first round the third time in as many title fights he’s been knocked down before finishing the opponent.
Charles Oliveira’s ground game is so good guys are afraid to follow him to the ground when they drop him. Basically his bjj gets him an eight count🤷🏿♂️Since he’s technically no longer the champion, Oliveira will be considered the number one contender and fight for the “vacant” belt in his next match.
Carla Esparza upset Rose Namajunas via unanimous decision in a rematch of the inaugural UFC strawweight championship. Though I was not able to watch much of the fight since it was on at the same time as Alvarez vs. Bivol, it seems I didn’t miss much. Both what I watched between rounds and what others said made it seem like this was a boring fight in which very little happened.
Michael Chandler brutally knocked out Tony Ferguson in the second round of their fight after being knocked down himself in the first.
Montana Love defeated Gabriel Valenzuela (UD)
Michael Chandler had the KO of the Week, probably the year, and potentially one of the best of all time in his front kick KO of Tony Ferguson.
Fortunately, Ferguson is fine and was released from the hospital with negative CT scans early Sunday morning.
UFC 274 had a distinct lack of national flags, which fighters often have in tow ahead of matches. UFC President Dana White simply answered “You guys know why” when questioned on the matter, likely implying that it’s due to the ongoing Russia/Ukraine war. Many individual sports have banned Russian competitors entirely, and by disallowing flags, the UFC seems to be trying to ensure there are no displays of Russian nationalism at their events.
Daniel Cormier was told on the UFC 274 broadcast that he’d be in the upcoming UFC Hall of Fame class.
Devin Haney’s trainer Ben Davison will not be making the trip to Australia for Haney’s undisputed title fight with George Kambosos. Haney’s father Bill did not provide reasoning but said that Davison will still be involved in the preparation for the fight.
Former welterweight champion Kell Brook has retired from boxing after winning a long-awaited rivalry fight with Amir Khan in February.
Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn shared that he will be parting ways with middleweight champion Demetrius Andrade as continued partnership is not in the best interest of either party. Andrade has had a very forgettable title reign and will likely look to sign somewhere that would put him in the mix for a 160-pound title unification.
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MMA
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Amateur boxing places a much greater priority on sheer volume of punches. Amateurs are also less likely to go to the body, as the payoff in later rounds is diminished significantly since the fights are only three rounds. As a result, many amateurs utilize a high guard.
Even though Tony got sent into the Shadow Realm, I'm glad he is still posting the break dancing bear gif on twitter. Probably will go down as the best to never win a belt.