Edgar Pagaza
The fight last Saturday between “Canelo” Alvarez and Dimitry Bivol exposed the failures that boxing continues to turn a blind eye to and it mainly has to do with the scoring system. Anyone who watched the fight saw the dominance of Bivol over Canelo through 12 rounds of boxing. And although the Russian fighter came out on top, the scorecards suggested a much closer fight with all 3 judges giving the fight to Bivol on a unanimous 115-113. If that wasn’t coincidence enough, all three judges also had the audacity to give the first 4 rounds to Canelo in rounds that could’ve gone either way. This obviously seems more than just a mere coincidence.
Most fighters agreed that the fight was not as close as it was called. Amongst them was Terence Crawford, Ryan Garcia and Shawn Porter. Trainer Teddy Atlas said that they wanted to rob Bivol but that “they couldn’t keep it close.”Oscar de La Hoya also weighed in by saying that Canelo didn’t win more than 4 rounds. Even Julio Cesar Chavez thought that Canelo lost the fight adding that the 175 lb weight isn’t ideal for him.
Despite the loss, it was a valiant effort by the Mexican champ who chose to step up to another weight class once again and fight a champion for his belt. It showed a lot of courage and determination to move up to 175 lb. This was especially true considering many experts believed that Canelo had very little to gain and a lot to lose if he took the fight. Unfortunately, he came up short this time.
But, aside from the brief spotlight to the scoring injustice, the boxing world seemed to move on rather quickly by not talking about the damage that judges continue to do to the sport with the lack of integrity in their scoring and the lack of respect for the fan base.
Since the fight, there has been a lot of focus on what Canelo should do next and where he should go from here. Should he go back down to 168 lbs. or stay at 175? Will his legacy be affected by the loss? Who should he fight next?
All talk about the terrible judging has gone away. There must be more transparency and there should be a system in place with accountability and one where we can see the judges score cards after each round. Only then can the fan base grow and take its place once again amongst the most popular sports around the world.
Boxing has been at a decline for the past 25 years and that is partly due to the arrival of the UFC and also the lack of transparency in boxing. The boxing world needs to start thinking of what would happen to the sport once its cash cow Canelo retires. Can they afford to play the same game with its fan base? How long do they think they can go on “fooling” the public? Another Canelo won’t just be right around the corner to save boxing.