Canelo Alvarez suffered a surprise defeat on Saturday as Russia’s Dmitry Bivol successfully defended his World Boxing Association light heavyweight title with a win by unanimous decision at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena.

All three judges scored the fight 115-113 in Bivol’s favour at the end of 12 rounds as the Mexican was handed only the second loss of his career, nine years after he was beaten by Floyd Mayweather in November 2013.

Bivol silenced the sell-out crowd to take his record to 20 wins from 20 fights while Alvarez, widely considered the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world before the bout, slips to 57-2-2.

“I’m glad I proved myself, I’m the best in my division and I keep this belt,” said Bivol. “He’s a great champion, I respect him and all his team.

“If you don’t believe in yourself what do you do? You achieve nothing. I believe and my team believed in me.

“I felt his power. You can see on my arm, he beat my arm up but not my head. That’s better.”

Alvarez, the overwhelming favourite, was rarely able to find a way through Bivol’s defensive guard as the 31-year-old put on a disciplined display.