Though I wasn’t too confident about my pick because I thought it was a pretty even match-up, still we got it correctly as Dmitry Bivol defeated Saul Alvarez via decision.This prediction has shades of Bernard Hopkins vs. Felix Trinidad in 2001. Back then, almost everybody had “Tito” winning. I was among the minority who thought the bigger B-hop would handle Tito well.THE FIGHT. From the get-go the size difference between the two was quite glaring. The taller Bivol was able to find an early home for his jab which he used to keep Canelo at bay.Bivol also covered up well with a high guard, which forced Canelo to throw wide, but the first two rounds were evenly fought.There were some good exchanges in the 3rd and 4th but Bivol seemed to be the one controlling the pace of the fight. In the 5th Bivol landed several punches as Canelo was backed up against the ropes which got the crowd excited.In the 8th after Canelo landed a huge right hand, Bivol retaliated by landing several one-two combos as Canelo moved forward.In the 9th, Bivol seemed to take a breather and this allowed the busierCanelo to land some shots on Bivol’s high guard.Bivol regained control in the 10th once again with his thudding jab, and in the 11th Bivol landed two clean left hooks in succession and you could see the look of frustration in Canelo’s face.The last round was evenly fought as Canelo stalked Bivol while the latter continuously landed jabs behind a high guard.The scorecards 115-113 all in favor of Bivol were a bit too close for me but of course, there were several evenly-fought rounds that could have been given to either man.SIZE. There is an adage in boxing about a good big man defeating a good small man which held true once again in this fight.Canelo is a solid puncher with power in both hands, and in his previous fights at the middleweight and super-middleweight divisions, he would walk down his foes with his power.But this time, he could not bully Bivol around and the latter was able tooverpower Canelo in some exchanges. His huge arms were also able to fend off and parry Canelo’s wide, stinging blows and he was able to dish out some punishment of his own.He was like a ramrod in there, punching slowly but steadily and more importantly, efficiently.It’s back to the drawing board for Canelo and he might probably go for a rematch but I think Bivol would beat him easier the second time around.LAST ROUND. It’s on my baby ate, Jenya Mary Louise who recently celebrated her birthday. Love you, baby. Cheers!