Were you impressed with the performance or did it have more to do with Canelo being too small for the division? Canelo did fight at 175 against an off-the-rails Kovalev, but Bivol was a different kind of beast. Personally I thought Bivol boxed beautifully and showed all aspects to his game, fought on the outside, boxed circles, came forward, fought inside. He pretty much beat Canelo in all range and Canelo had no answers for his combinations. I do think there was a moment where Bivol really could have turned it up and possibly went for the stoppage, Canelo really had nothing left. I knew Bivol was gonna be a legit threat and figured he would do well enough to beat Canelo in a close fight and get robbed but I didn't think he would be so dominant to the point that they couldn't rob him. Excellent performance overall.
He boxed well but he didn’t fight the way a bigger man who’s outlanding his opponent by THAT MUCH should have fought. Should have knocked him out. The judges will make no mistake next time. He better KO Canelo in September.
He had literally no weight advantage, and hasn't knocked anyone out in years. He schooled Canelo and reduced one of the most multifaceted fighters in the game to a limited puncher.
Bivol didn’t even need to use his size at all, it was all boxing skills, solid defense and footwork that beat Canelo. He neutralized Canelo’s best assets including the uppercut, body shots and even reduced his impeccable defense to merely a punching bag.
That was a horrible fight. Honest to God, they both sucked. Canelo was throwing a right hand that a first week novice should be ashamed of- you could see it coming for about half an hour and I have no idea where he was trying to land it. And Bivol didn't show much himself. In 1977 that was a 6 round prelim fight.
You sure we were watching the same fight? Bivol showed tremendous skills, not sure how you could call that a horrible performance. The combinations that he threw, defense, footwork, and most importantly his discipline were top notch.
