Canelo Álvarez vs. Dmitry Bivol

After Canelo Álvarez unified all four major world titles to become undisputed super middleweight champion with an eleventh-round technical knockout victory over Caleb Plant on November 6, 2021, it appeared likely that Álvarez would move up to challenge for a world title in a fifth division, when his trainer Eddy Reynoso successfully petitioned the WBC on November 15, 2021, to allow Álvarez to challenge WBC cruiserweight champion Ilunga Makabu.[2] The fight ultimately did not happen, as Makabu was forced into a mandatory defense of his title in a rematch against Thabiso Mchunu on January 29, 2022, which the former won via split decision.[3]

Instead, it was announced on February 25, 2022, that Álvarez had signed a two-fight deal with Matchroom Boxing; the first fight would see him returning to the light heavyweight division to challenge long-reigning undefeated WBA (Super) champion Dmitry Bivol on May 7 in a bout that would be televised as sports streaming service DAZN's first pay-per-view offering in the United States and Canada.[4]

Bivol first won the WBA interim light heavyweight title in only his seventh professional bout in May 2016, making his first defense of the full WBA world title in 2017, before being designated as Super champion in 2019. Against Álvarez, Bivol made his fourth defense of the WBA (Super) title, and his ninth world title defense overall.[5]

The fight was able to take place because while in response to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine three of boxing's world governing bodies (the World Boxing Council, International Boxing Federation, and World Boxing Organization) had blocked championship fights involving Russian and Belarusian boxers, the World Boxing Association (WBA) chose to allow the fight to proceed.[6]

Weight Class		vs.		Method	Round	Time	Notes
Light heavyweight	Dmitry Bivol (c)	def.	Canelo Álvarez	UD	12/12		Note 1
Super Lightweight	Montana Love	def.	Gabriel Valenzuela	UD	12/12
Welterweight	Shakhram Giyasov	def.	Christian Gomez	UD	10/10
Lightweight	Marc Castro	def.	Pedro Vicente Scharbaai	UD	6/6
Heavyweight	Zhang Zhilei	def.	Scott Alexander	KO	1/10	1:54
Flyweight	Joselito Velázquez	def.	Jose Soto	TKO	6/10	1:06
Middleweight	Aaron Silva	def.	Alexis Espino	TKO	4/8	1:17
Super Featherweight	Elnur Abduraimov	def.	Manuel Correa	TKO	2/8	2:43
Super Lightweight	Fernando Angel Molina	def.	Ricardo Valdovinos	SD	6/6

^Note 1 For WBA (Super) light heavyweight title

The bout was broadcast live by sports streaming service DAZN to existing subscribers worldwide excluding Latin America. The bout was broadcast on pay-per-view in the United States and Canada.[4]

Country	Broadcaster
	Free-to-air	Cable/Pay television	PPV	Stream
United States (Host)	—		DAZN PPV
Canada
Worldwideexcl.	—			DAZN
Mexico	Azteca 7 Canal 5	—		TV Azteca Deportes TUDN
Latin America	—		ESPN Latin America	Star+

^excl. Live on DAZN worldwide excluding Latin America.