Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez accepted his defeat to Dmitry Bivol but vowed that they ‘will fight again’.
The Mexican undisputed super middleweight champion was the favourite going up against the WBA light heavyweight champion but his opponent put on a dominant display to pull off a convincing upset victory.
In the aftermath of the loss, Canelo said he believed he had done enough to win, but promoter Eddie Hearn sided with the judges.
The fighters now appear on course for a rematch which could come as soon as this September which disrupts plans for a trilogy rematch between Canelo and Gennadiy Golovkin.
Taking to Twitter, Canelo appeared to take the loss in his stride.
“Boxing is like that,” he wrote in Spanish. “Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose, but always with your head held high.
“I stay with the great fight that we offered to the people.
“We will fight again and we will win again.”
Golovkin himself reacted on Twitter, apparently unconcerned about how this result affects him, as he congratulated the Russian on his victory.
Golovkin offered praise for the man who may have caused him to miss out on a huge fight of his own, he tweeted.
“Congratulations on your win @bivol_d! That was solid. Keep it up,” he wrote on his own Twitter account.