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On Saturday night, the entire world witnessed a huge shock defeat for pound-for-pound king, Canelo Alvarez. The Mexican once again stepped up to the challenge to face undefeated Russian light heavyweight Dmitry Bivol, with the WBA Light Heavyweight Title on the line.
Dmitry Bivol won by unanimous decision and is only the second person to beat the highly skilled Mexican during his impressive 17-year professional career. The last person to beat Alvarez was Floyd Mayweather Jr. back in 2013.
Alvarez was the favorite to win the fight but the undefeated boxing legend confidently believed that Bivol would defeat the Mexican. 'Money' Mayweather makes no secret of his wagers on big sporting events. He revealed he bet $10,000 on Bivol to win, pocketing himself a nice $42,500.
Bivol recently spoke with FightHype.com about his stunning win. When asked to compare his and Mayweather's victories over the pound-for-pound star, Bivol said:
"It was different fights. [...] It's two different Canelos. Then, he was younger and his style was a little bit different and now he's getting bigger, more confident and now his style is more aggressive. [...] I remember his fight, it was the first fight in which I saw Canelo."
Bivol was then asked if he took anything out of Mayweather's way of beating the Mexican star:
"I only took Mayweather's confidence. I saw their fight and Mayweather was confident that he could beat this guy because they're both just human human."
You can watch Bivol's full interview here:
Who's victory over Canelo Alvarez was more impressive?
When undefeated 50-0 boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. beat Canelo Alvarez in 2015, it was a spectacle. The young Mexican was only 23-years-old at the time and faced a very experienced and primed 'Money' Mayweather.
The boxing great ultimately won and retained his unbeaten status, which projected the distance in class between the boxing genius and the raw Mexican. However, Alvarez didn't shy away from this blip early in his career and instead used it as a lesson to improve even more.
After losing to Mayweather, Alvarez looked almost unbeatable until he came up against the skillful Dmitry Bivol. Bivol was the bigger man and showcased his high boxing IQ.
The Russian competed as a natural light heavyweight during his amateur boxing career and held an impressive record of 268–15. Bivol patiently picked his shots well during his clash with Canelo.
Both Bivol and Mayweather's wins came via points decision and they both outclassed the boxing star on the night, but it's very difficult to say which was more impressive. Mayweather fought a very young and inexperienced Alvarez but won in imposing fashion while Bivol defeated a primed version of his opponent but won as the bigger man.
Ultimately it's down to opinion, based on many factors, but it's hard to deny that one of 'Money' Mayweather's best ever performances was against Alvarez. Mayweather made the fight almost look easy and showed his dominance throughout.
