{"id":1080309,"date":"2022-05-08T13:23:48","date_gmt":"2022-05-08T13:23:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/05\/08\/mexican-superstar-canelo-alvarez-suffers-shock-defeat-to-russian-champion\/"},"modified":"2022-05-08T13:23:48","modified_gmt":"2022-05-08T13:23:48","slug":"mexican-superstar-canelo-alvarez-suffers-shock-defeat-to-russian-champion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/05\/08\/mexican-superstar-canelo-alvarez-suffers-shock-defeat-to-russian-champion\/","title":{"rendered":"Mexican superstar Canelo Alvarez suffers shock defeat to Russian champion"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Canelo Alvarez suffered a shock defeat to Dmitry Bivol in their WBA light heavyweight title clash on Saturday night<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Mexican superstar Saul \u2018Canelo\u2019 Alvarez suffered a shock points defeat as Russia\u2019s Dmitry Bivol retained his WBA light-heavyweight title in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n

Alvarez, 31, is the undisputed world super-middleweight champion but he stepped up in weight for the bout and was handed a second defeat in 61 bouts.<\/p>\n

Bivol, also 31, claimed victory with a unanimous points decision win taking his undefeated record to 20 bouts.<\/p>\n

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Bivol has now defended the WBA light-heavyweight belt 11 times<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

All three judges scored the fight 115-113 in Bivol\u2019s favour.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI\u2019m glad I proved myself, I\u2019m the best in my division and I keep this belt,\u201d said Bivol. \u201cHe\u2019s a great champion, I respect him and all his team.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you don\u2019t believe in yourself what do you do? You achieve nothing. I believe and my team believed in me.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt his power. You can see on my arm, he beat my arm up but not my head. That\u2019s better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alvarez is rated as\u00a0the world\u2019s leading pound-for-pound male boxer., and his only other defeat was to Floyd Mayweather at light middleweight in 2013.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to accept it, it\u2019s boxing,\u201d Alvarez said of the loss. \u201cHe\u2019s a great champion. Sometimes in boxing you win and lose and I\u2019m not giving excuses. I lost and he won.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked if he wanted a rematch he said: \u201cYeah, of course I do. \u201cThis doesn\u2019t end like this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bivol added: \u201cLet\u2019s talk about a rematch. I wanted this fight because I wanted to get the opportunity and I appreciate this opportunity.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m ready for a rematch, I just want to be treated as the champion now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bivol has held the WBA light-heavyweight title since 2016.<\/p>\n

There had been\u00a0criticism of the WBA\u2019s decision to allow Bivol to fight\u00a0because of Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n

Former heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko told Radio 5 Live \u201cit is important that this boxer [Bivol] is forbidden from fighting in America, just as all Russian athletes are being banned from international competition\u201d.<\/p>\n

Boxing\u2019s world governing bodies \u2013 the WBC, WBO and IBF \u2013 responded to Russia\u2019s war in a joint statement that committed to blocking \u201cchampionship fights involving boxers from Russia and Belarus\u201d.<\/p>\n

But the WBA did not issue a similar penalty.<\/p>\n

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