Dmitry Bivol retains light heavyweight belt, hands Canelo 2nd career loss in upset

WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol retained his title by defeating Saul "Canelo" Alvarez by unanimous decision Saturday night in Las Vegas.

The unbeaten Bivol (20-0, 11 KOs), who has held a version of his belt since May 2016, handed Alvarez (57-2-2, 39 KOs) just the second defeat of his career.

Alvarez moved back up to the heaviest weight of his career to contend for the 175-pound title.

After opening the fight with a trio of very close rounds, it was clear Bivol would be able to utilize his advantages with reach and height, to pepper Alvarez and keep him off when charging with his power punches.

Alvarez tried, at times, to use his intimidating tactics to taunt Bivol.

With a rematch clause in the contract, Alvarez said afterward in the ring he wanted a rematch with the Kyrgyzstan-born Russian champion.

Bivol responded: "No problem."

In the co-main event at 140 pounds, Montana Love (18-0-1, 10 KOs) beat Gabriel Valenzuela (25-3-1, 15 KOs) by unanimous decision with identical scores from all three judges (114-112). With the win, Love solidifies himself as a contender in the junior welterweight division.

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Also from the main undercard, Shakhram Giyasov (13-0, 9 KOs) beat Christian Gomez (22-3-1, 20 KOs) by unanimous decision (98-89, 99-88, 99-88) in a 10-round welterweight bout.

Marc Castro (7-0, 5 KOs) won via unanimous decision (60-54) over Pedro Vicente (7-5-1, 2 KOs).

Zhilei Zhang (24-0-1, 19 KOs) knocked out Scott Alexander just 1:54 in the first round in a heavyweight clash. Alexander was a replacement after Filip Hrgovic was forced to withdraw from his scheduled bout against Zhang.

Earlier Saturday, Joselito Velazquez (15-0-1, 10 KOs) won