Dmitry Bivol was in Riyadh on Saturday night to see Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez regain his status as the undisputed super middleweight champion of the world with a mundane twelve round decision victory over William Scull.
The win saw WBC, WBA, WBO and Ring Magazine champion, Alvarez, regain the IBF title that was stripped from him last year.
In May 2022, unified and Ring Magazine light heavyweight champion, Bivol outboxed Alvarez over twelve rounds, ending his hopes of adding a 175lb world title to his long list of achievements.
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The 34 year-old Russian laid out an efficient, effective blueprint of how to beat the Mexican great but, since then, nobody else has been able to follow it.
Pound-for-pound great, Terence Crawford, 41-0 (31 KOs), will be the next man to try. He and Alvarez, 63-2-2 (39 KOs), will meet at The Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas on September 12th.
“I was just myself, without fear, because most of his opponents, they have fear and they don’t do what they can do,” Bivol told DAZN when asked how he went about beating Alvarez.
“They’re very tight mentally and [in their] body. They don’t throw enough punches. I think this is the most important.”
Just hours later, Scull provided a vivid example of Bivol’s reasoning and surrendered his IBF belt in tame fashion.
Alvarez put in a one-paced display but Scull was in no mood to take advantage. Although the Cuban threw more punches than the multi-weight world champion, the majority of them were inconsequential and he seemed more intent on lasting the course rather than seizing the biggest opportunity of his career.
Last October, Bivol faced Artur Beterbiev in an eagerly awaited undisputed light heavyweight title fight.
Although he didn’t shy away from entering exchanges with the fearsome Beterbiev, Bivol was understandably wary of doing so and only held his feet when absolute necessary. He clearly grew in confidence as the fight wore on and although he lost a tight majority decision, he carried that self belief into February’s rematch.
Bivol was more active, committed to his power shots and boxed and fought his way to an attritional majority decision win of his own.
The two rivals will complete their rivalry later this year.
“I hope in November or December, I will have a chance to have a fight,” he said.
