Via Matt Lieberman: Canelo Alvarez may have made the mistake of not giving his all to beat WBA lightweight champion Dmitry Bivol last Saturday night.
After the match, Canelo (57-2-2 39 KOs) told the media he felt he had done enough to deserve a win over Bivol (20-0, 11 KOs).
If that’s the case, it would help explain why he didn’t fight harder in the second half as Bivol withdrew from the judges’ scorecard, winning seven of the final eight innings.
Canelo only won one round between the fifth and twelfth rounds, and that was the ninth round. There weren’t enough punches delivered by Canelo in those many rounds, and he didn’t land in double digits.
To defeat Bivol, Canelo should have thrown 80 to 100 punches every lap, and he doesn’t come close to those numbers.
Matchroom Boxing’s Frank Smith believes Canelo didn’t fight as hard as he needed to in the second half of the competition because he thought he was winning the showdown at what he was doing.
Canelo made harder shots throughout the fight, even in the second half of the match.
What may have affected his chances of winning is how tired he looks in later rounds and how Bivol can coordinate with him.
Canelo will need to decide soon which direction he will go for his next fight as Bivol will not sit around and wait.
He must defend his 175-lb WBA title against the winner of a knockout tie Joshua Buatsi vs Craig Richards on May 21.
“A little wider,” said Frank Smith, Boxing Matchroom promoter. Against TV Hub when asked about his thoughts on the score 115-113 due to the referees favoring Bivol over Canelo.
“Perhaps I equalized 2-2, but I don’t think I’m the best scorer in a game, but I think Dmitry Bivol won,” Smith said. “He is [Canelo] Never shirk a challenge. I think he will fight again.
“It’s something that he’s going to yearn to go back there and try to beat him again. Bivol, I’ve known and worked with them for five or six years. I have a great relationship with him and Vadim as well.
“We have organized great events, but there is nothing we can do about the results. That’s where our business ends. It’s for people who struggle to go and do. There are very big nights to come, and Canelo will be back again, and Bivol will be back again.
“I don’t think you can make excuses. He didn’t make any excuses, but I don’t know what happened. He went in there against a very good guy Dmitry Bivol, and Canelo has shown how good he is for many years, and year after year.
“He is number one in the sport. Maybe it’s the weight, as someone asked him during the press conference. Once again, Dmitry Bivol gave a great performance and went into it with a game plan and executed it.
“I am no expert; I’m not the coach,” Smith said when asked what Canelo must do to beat Bivol in the rematch. I really can’t tell you.
“Like him [Canelo] said, he thought he had won the war. So maybe he doesn’t have much urgency to get in there. Maybe he could have delivered more powerful hits there.
“Let’s see what happens. First, the focus is on Dmitry Bivol. It was a great win for him tonight. Canelo will take some time, and then let’s see where we go from there.
“Golovkin’s war is based on him [Canelo] won tonight, but let’s see. He said he wanted to take some time and decide what he wanted to do and go from there,” Smith said of Alvarez.
