Ex-coach and ex-boxing commentator Teddy Atlas commented on the referee cards of the fight for the WBA Super light heavyweight title between Russian Dmitry Bivol (20-0, 11 KOs) and Mexican Saul Canelo Alvarez (57-2-2, 39 KO).
Last weekend, the favorite Canelo lost in all respects to the underdog champion, but the judges turned out a competitive fight – 7:5 in favor of Bivol.
Atlas reasoning: “This rule is as old as the world. If you’re fighting a superstar, then you need to take absolutely every round. And even after that, pray that the judges will give you a split decision victory. Almost the same thing happened in this fight. How many 3 minutes has Canelo won? I can’t give him more than 3 rounds. I believe that you will say at all that no more than two. But the judges’ cards themselves are simply absurd. They all gave the starting 4 rounds to Canelo. Are you joking? And what happened then, after Bivol equalized? That’s right, they put Canelo ahead again – they gave him the 9th round. That is, they continued to make it look like it was a very competitive and close fight.”
“They made it so that Canelo was in the lead before the championship rounds. Do you really believe this is a coincidence? They did everything they could. The rest was for Canelo, for this “golden goose”. All he had to do was not screw up in the final rounds and ride home with the title. But you know what? He still didn’t succeed, because Bivol too obviously won the championship rounds. That’s how it was! They just couldn’t push Canelo for more rounds, because by that time they had already given him everything they could. He had to take the decisive rounds without outside help. And he failed,” says Atlas.
“It’s not fair to say that you have to do more than enough to win. It should not be. The winner should simply be the one who was better. Even if he had a minimal advantage. And in boxing, for some reason, it is customary to say that the challenger or underdog in the battle with the “golden goose” needs to beat the opponent in order to win. It’s not fair. Victory is victory. It’s good that the victory went to Bivol. After all, he really confidently beat the opponent. After all, he deserved that very rule: “Win all the rounds and pray that you will be given the victory by a split decision.” The maximum Canelo could pull was 4 rounds. But they were ready to simply rob this kid. Bivol simply did not allow them to do so. It’s not that in the course of the battle their conscience woke up. It was he who simply did not let himself be robbed, ”the expert believes.
Meanwhile, Benavidez wants Canelo Alvarez to beat Bivol a second time, and Jermall Charlo is sure that the Mexican will knock out the Russian in a rematch.
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