By Miguel Maravilla
Not only did judges Tim Cheatham, Dave Moretti, and Steve Weisfeld all have 115-113 cards favoring WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol against Canelo Alvarez last night in Las Vegas, they scored each of the twelve rounds identically.
Canelo won the first four rounds and the ninth rounds on all three judges’ cards. Bivol swept rounds five to eight, and ten to twelve. Entering the final round Bivol was ahead 105-104 on all three cards and needed to win the twelfth to avoid a draw.
Geez
The fact that the judges gave Canelo the first 4 rounds tells me something was up. The only round you could really give Canelo was round 3.Also I swear it feels like Canelo only landed like 4 punches through the first 4 and even those were partially blocked.
Every single one of them gave him the first 4. I’m the last person to cry foul with judges as I think often the problem is with the TV scorers, but this is inexcusable.
They should not be let off the hook for getting the right decision. If you look at punch stats, Bivol outlanded Canelo in every single round. In power punches, Bivol outlanded him in 9 with 3 rounds even. So Canelo did not have a single round where he outlanded Bivol in total punches, power punches, or jabs.
Using their logic, the only way you can beat Canelo is either thoroughly dominate him and basically shut him out or knock him out. Changing one round makes this a draw???
Even though they got the right guy, this is one of the worst displays of judging I’ve ever seen.
Shouldn’t be surprised based on some of his past fights he’ll one judge scored the Mayweather fight a draw
More proof in the pudding boxing is not totally about the sweet science itself. Sometimes it’s about favors, obligations, gambling money, corruption, payoffs, and most of all, it’s a business for entertainment. That business can be defined in so many ways. Of course, like all things, the boxing gods will deny it and say we are the crazy ones.
I scored rounds 2-4 for Canelo. Harder cleaner shots.
Ridiculous.
I’m glad fightnews is staying with this. These judges should not be let off the hook. Bivol outlanded Canelo in EVERY SINGLE ROUND. In power punches, Bivol outlanded him in 9/12 with 3 even. Canelo did not have one single round where he outlanded Bivol in total punches, power punches, or jabs. Yet these judges gave him the first 4 rounds???
They should be suspended at a minimum. They tried to move heaven and earth to give Canelo this decision. How much should someone have to dominate a guy just to get a decision??!?! This is insane.
Disagree. I had the same scorecard 115-113. No one was dominated in this fight. It was close with Bivol edging it out. Canelo had much harder shots.
Lmao you my friend are delusional!!!
Either you have extremely poor vision or just don’t know how to judge a fight. Almost everything Canelo threw was blocked.
There’s no way Canelo won the first 4 rounds. At the most Canelo won 2 rounds. The fight was 118-112 maybe 117-113. Bivol won very comfortably.
Seriously, the first four rounds??? WTF is wrong with these judges???
Had Bivol been Ukranian they would have given him the decision much more decisively. Given the political backdrop, he’s fortunate they were at least honest enough to give him the (well-earned) victory.
Safe to say that Russia beat Mexico in this matchup :).
Maybe Bivol will do the rematch in Russia. LOL
HORRIBLE scoring!!!! This makes me even more glad Canelo lost. These scumbag rats tried everything they could to give Canelo the win, most likely anticipating a KO. Didn’t happen and their cash cow took an ass whooping and was lucky to survive the fight.
These Judges are the worst. I had respect for Dave Moretti before this fight. This fight was easy to score for a blind man. It was almost a shutout. Bivol totally dominated, out boxed, out punched Canelo and showed better condition and ring generalship through out. It was more like 10-2 Bivol, and I am being generous. That scoring was a travesty.
Possibly 9-3 would be more accurate for Bivol. But hey, it’s Vegas!
Corrupt cheats is the only way to describe the three judges. They had planned to rob Bivol but must have realized that even a one eye’s Canalo fan knew he had lost so they escaped a backlash from the boxing world by being forced to give Bivol the win that he clearly earned.
Canelo was lucky to have won three rounds! These judges are counting punches blocked by Divol as successful punches by Canelo? This scoring was what makes people not want to watch boxing. Even though Divol won, he won big not barely!
Im sure the fix was called off after the 4th round. They knew they would be investigated and thrown in jail if the fight kept going the way it was going because Canelo wasn’t even close to winning any rounds.
Why is everyone shocked? Floyd got a “split decision” against Canelo in Vegas!!! I’m just glad Bivol got his just due. He is deserving and earned it.
Yes, Floyd was gifted a victory in the Jose Castillo first fight too.
Not that it matters, but the AP had Mayweather beating Castillo rather comfortably, 115-111, in the first meeting between the two…
You Canelo fans (YOU) are so sensitive. I used Floyd to prove a point, that if he could dominate Canelo and get a split decision in Vegas than what makes folks believe the scores will not be shady for Bivol.
Welcome to boxing bud Chavez got a gift draw against Whitaker. We can talk about this all day but try to focus on what is relevant now which is Canelo.
Just like they did to Amanda Serrano, the judges are incompetent many times and I wondered what fight were they watching.
The guys were about to rob the guy, but it was so one.sided that even these crooks had to accept their man lost.
They tried to rob Bivol like they robbed GGG… But the dominance was too obvious lol
Very true Sir.
Looked like a mismatch in the later rounds. Canelo’s discouraged facial expressions & the worried look in his corner told the story of how the fight went.
he almost quit
Kurtis, it looked like canelo was on his way to be knocked out. Bivol tan out of rounds.
He did quit….mentally surrendered….unlike Wilder in the Fury fight….Wilder chased greatness trying to beat Fury…Wilder was limited …showed guys by going out on his shield …trying to press the action to get the KO…almost got it….
*showed guys that is….
Canelo won the third round that’s all..
Rotten cheats the fix was in almost made this pernell Chavez two shameful
exactly
Everyone expected a tough fight for Canelo. Many thougjt Bivol wins the fight but loses the decision. Even the corrupt judges could not give the fight to Canelo because it was one sided and almost became a mismatch at the end. Even if the judge was corrupt, how could there be the score of 115 to 113? That’s just mind boggling. It was, at best 117 to 111, or 118 to 110 for Bivol.
what a joke of judges , all pro Canelo , shame
the scores should of been 110-120 113-120 111-120 in favor of bibol
Rematch in BIVOL’S home town. Bivol won 10 maybe 12 rounds. Chavez lost too. RIP Pernell.
These guys need not to be allowed to judge a boxing march for the next 5 yrs. The WBA should step up and impose that in its matches anyway. These guys are a disgrace to boxing. Period.
Let me offer an analogy: when you’re the best Pitcher in Baseball, the strike zone tends to be wider. In other words, you’ve earned the benefit of the doubt.
I definitely felt Bivol deserved the Decision and I thought he won 8 or 9 rounds, BUT, the early rounds seemed closer than they probably were because Canelo was the clear aggressor and we’ve grown used to his punching an opponent’s arms to break them down. Normally, these are not scoring punches and punchstat for what it’s worth would not count them, but it doesn’t mean there not effective. So, as Canelo is landing those arm shots and being the obvious aggressor can you step back and possibly consider it “effective aggression”?
Some of us are always seeing corruption when the reality is that it’s very different ringside than watching on television. Different angles, they’re hearing the punches and the crowd’s reaction too. Canelo was getting the wider strike zone and Bivol was still able to win. The only oddity is that the cards were identical! That rarely happens because of the aforementioned angles, but I think going after these well established judges would be silly.
Totally different here, Canelo aggressiveness was ineffective…wide hooks hitting arms and elbows..it was quite obvious…it was noticeable that Canelo was hurt, tired….no hunger….at one point Canelo looked like he wanted to quit….Truth he looks as if he was unprepared…
Lot of Russian bots on this site…..
No joke, one of the judges last name is “Cheatham”. Anyway, just looking at the scorecards, all 3 judges had Canelo up 40-36 after 4 rounds. Shameful.
And the other two judges names were “Dewey” and “Howe”.
Canelo lost 11 rounds and 1 questionable round! Bivol need to win round 12 to win!!!!!!! Wow….corruption in boxing to the fullest! And this were supposely the best judges, the gold standard of judging in boxing , the top ones according to the commentators!!!!!!
its not too often you see all 3 judges score it the same round by round interesting……………..
They want rob the fight the same way do to Amanda last week with this guy Hearn you no know what go happened.
Amazing!!! It’s almost as if they were…working…for the same…company.
I didn’t see a problem with the judging. The first 4 rounds were close, and you know close rounds were going to Canelo. The later rounds that Bivol won were more decisive, but you still score them 10 9. So a dominant win is a close fight on paper. Sometimes people need to take emotions out and look at the situation with logic.
There’s an argument for the first round out of the first four. Be it punchstats on paper or visual observation, a four round lead is simply unjustifiable. The casual layman or anyone without an emotional attachment to the fight would agree.
I gave Canelo 1 rd only. The judges are a disgrace and were in favor of their cash cow Canelo.
Any person to watch no he did not need it only in the judges you and they should never judge his fight against they lost that
When all 3 judges came back with the same scorecard, I thought the fix was in. Apparently, the Canelo team only managed to front the money to buy the first four rounds. I had it 117-111, but easily could’ve been wider.
Absolutely, a disgrace. They should keep these judges away from the canelo gift decision rematch. All boxing diehards, don’t be surprised if canelo decides to fight triple G anyway. Bivol said he wants to renegotiate his deal for the rematch. I’m quite sure canelo got millions and Bivol got peanuts. I wouldn’t be surprised if canelo try to put a weight stipulation as he usually does to give himself an advantage. He did it to Jacobs. ‘’ Get rid of crooked, paid for or bought off judges’’, we need a national boxing commission
BS, no Russian anthem no flag, can anyone imagine no Mexican anthem of flag, total disrespect? The biggest loser tonight is GGG! Judges tried but Ray Charles would of seen this robbery, Joel Diaz was and is right, Canelo will get beat up.
Correct scorecards. Announcers looking to marry Bivol early for no reason. He gave them good reason in the last 3rd.
I highly doubt that anyone is surprised at Dave Moretti’s scorecard. Not the first time he’s hooked Canelo up with a very dubious scorecard. All three judges should retire in shame like CJ Ross and Adylaine Byrd did after the Mayweather and GGG fights.
Bivol dominated this fight with a classic display of superior boxing and counter punching skills. I don’t know how the judges scored the first 4 rounds to Canelo. Boxing is just too corrupt. They really tried to take the win away from Bivol but they just couldn’t.
But the scorecards are identical. Every round. On all three scorecards. Is it possible?
Think of it like this, they got a text after the 4th round that the wire transfer for rounds 5-12 didn’t come through. The last 8 rounds, therefore, got scored correctly. Had the bank texted with receipt of the Canelo deposit, it end 120-108 for Canelo.
I’d have completely agreed with the rounds as scored from 5-12. For whatever reason… including dubious reasons… the first 4 rounds were totally botched the exact same way on each and every scorecard.
EDDIE, EDDIE, EDDIE again!!! Enuff said
This is why no boxer should fight Canelo. The fix is always in. Just like what we learned when he fought GGG.
And let’s not pretend this was the first time the cards came in obviously pre-gamed. Absolutely reeks of clear favoritism and crooked judges following a cash cow.
I’ve just watched the replay, no way was the fight that close, Bivol was simply too good. Canelo looked slow from the start . Bivol simply outboxed him
I thought the first two rounds were tough to score, though I gave both to Canelo. This may be because I was
Expecting him to start slower than he did, and he
Connected with power shots.
I could see why a different person might score the first two rounds 1 a piece or even 2-0 to Bivol
I thought Bivol clearly won the 3rd, and I gave Canelo the 4th, making it even after 6.
From there on out, I scored it the same as the judges.
I had it 8-4, but could also a see as reasonable a score of 9-3.
7-5 was not, in my opinion, a total outrage, but I don’t see how Canelo won the third.
Punch stats don’t always tell
The whole story in a round by round scoring system, but Bivol was clearly better as the fight wore on.
I have to go back watch the fight again, but first time through I gave 4 and 9 to Canelo. ..and had the fight actually been close, I’m not sure Bivol lets him get those two. The fight was not close. The fact that the judges agreed on the the first three rounds is clear indication of corruption. Let’s guess how it went down: “Since we start a bit slow, give me the first three and I’ll do the rest”..this is Canelo or his people expecting Canelo to finish well. It’s a shame this sport is run this way. It’s a dirty disorganized business. You have to handicap the fighters AND the people running the show.