Eddie Hearn agrees Dmitry Bivol was the winner over Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez with 'perfect performance'

The Mexican appeared to be decisively beaten by most observers, but after the fight Canelo claimed that he had done enough for victory.

That means that Canelo is likely to exercise his rematch clause in order to face the WBA light heavyweight champion again, which indefinitely delays, if not rules out, the proposed trilogy rematch with Gennadiy Golovkin, which was originally expected to take place on September 17 this year.

While the undisputed super middleweight champion believes he was the true victor, Matchroom promoter Hearn agreed with the judges’ ruling.

"We talked going into this fight how good Dmitry Bivol is, how tough this fight was, and it was a punch perfect performance,” he said after the fight. 

“He had to box exactly how he boxed. The judges had it right for me. He won that fight. Did Canelo look a little bit flat? Was Canelo tired? I think it was the brilliance of Dmitry Bivol.

"Like [Bivol] said, he felt like he was steppingstone to Gennadiy Golovkin - and he was for the career plans of Canelo Alvarez. What a night for him. He dreamed of this night, got the opportunity. 

“There were a lot of Bivol's fights in the pandemic and through the pandemic, where his performances looked a little bit flat. You look at the fight with Craig Richards and Castillo before that, those performances didn't tell you that that form would beat Canelo Alvarez. 

"When you have a special fighter like Dmitry Bivol, if you can produce on the night, you can win these big fights. And he produced on unbelievable levels, unbelievable levels. It was the perfect performance at the right time."