‘It was my turn to lose.’ Dmitry Bivol halts the Canelo Álvarez era of dominance

Canelo Álvarez had three minutes to avoid disaster, one round to knock out Dmitry Bivol and salvage what the world thought would’ve been an easy victory.

A minute into his final chance, Álvarez, the Mexican superstar fighting on Cinco de Mayo weekend, was being booed by a crowd that adored him. A minute later, Mike Tyson, sitting ringside, decided he had seen enough and left.

Álvarez wasn’t going to pull off the miracle. He wasn’t going to put the bigger Bivol on his back. Bivol was, stunningly, too good. Nothing was working. And when the three minutes were up, after Bivol connected with a few more clean shots, the question was whether the three judges would steal a win for the star of the show.

But Bivol won the fight Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena as he should have by unanimous decision. Each judge scored the fight 115-113 for Bivol (20-0), the World Boxing Assn. light-heavyweight champion.

“It was my turn to lose,” Álvarez said.

It was just the second professional defeat for Álvarez (57-2-2). The other came nine years ago to Floyd Mayweather Jr. as a light-middleweight. He fought Saturday as a light-heavyweight for the second time in his career, challenging Bivol for the Russian’s championship belt.

Álvarez was the heavy favorite, better than 5 to 1, against the soft-spoken Bivol. He was expected to win to officially set up his long-awaited third fight against Gennadiy Golovkin. The bout was tentatively scheduled for Sept. 17, the day after Mexican Independence Day. SoFi Stadium was being considered as the site. It would have been a huge draw to complete the trilogy.

But it likely won’t happen, at least not in September.

“Eddie Hearn, I’m sorry I broke your plans with Gennadiy Golovkin, maybe,” Bivol said, referring to Álvarez’s promoter who had been discussing the September fight all week.

Instead, a rematch is possible. Álvarez said he wants one. Bivol said he would give him one.

“No problem,” Bivol said. “Let’s talk about one.”

Dmitry Bivol celebrates after his victory by unanimous decision Saturday night.

(John Locher / Associated Press)

The two fighters took the ring Saturday after an underwhelming undercard punctuated by a boring co-feature between Montana Love and crowd favorite Gabriel Gollaz, a native of Jalisco, Mexico.

Each fighter was knocked down by a glancing blow early. Gollaz fell in the first round, Love in the second. Both quickly got to their feet. The action ceased over the next nine rounds until they finally exchanged punches for stretches of the 12th round.

Love (18-0-1, 9 knockouts) won by unanimous decision. Once announced, the southpaw climbed a turnbuckle and waved to the crowd as he was booed.

Minutes later, after swaths of empty seats were quickly occupied, more boos filled the arena for Bivol’s entrance. The Russian was understated for his ring walk. His opponent was not.

Álvarez emerged from the tunnel on a platform that lifted him for everyone to see. Pyrotechnics and smoke went off around him. He pumped his fist while a mariachi played the “Rocky” theme song. He wore pink Dolce & Gabbana garb, matching his look from Friday’s weigh-in, and walked to the ring with a group of folkorico dancers behind him.

A Mexican flag was waved in the ring. In the other corner, there was no sign of Bivol’s background. His flag didn’t appear. His national anthem wasn’t played.

Bivol, despite being the champion, was introduced first. In the introduction, the ring announcer said Bivol was fighting out of Indio, but didn’t mention St. Petersburg, his hometown. The erasure was expected: The WBA in March ruled to prohibit anything Russian — except fighters — from its events during Russia’s war in the Ukraine.

Bivol was an afterthought anyway. The event was about Álvarez fighting on Cinco de Mayo weekend for the first time in three years.

He was the headliner. The night was supposed to be about him.

It became about him being overmatched from start to finish.

Álvarez was aggressive in the early going but seemed to tire by the middle rounds. Bivol remained in control. He landed 152 punches to Álvarez’s 84. He connected with 46 jabs while Álvarez hit him with just 10. Power shots were 106 to 74.

It was a thorough victory, one most nearly everyone in attendance didn’t expect.