William Scull (23-0, 9 KOs) defeated previously unbeaten Vladimir Shishkin (16-1, 10 KOs) by a 12-round unanimous decision to win the vacant IBF super middleweight title on Saturday night at the Stadthalle in Falkensee, Germany.
The scores
– 117-111
– 117-111
– 116-112
Boxing News 24 scored it for Shishkin 118-110. It was pretty one-sided, with Shishkin controlling every round and Scull doing a lot of holding. The referee failed to warn or penalize Scull for throwing rabbit punches and hitting after the bell, which he did several times.
It’s unclear what the judges saw from Scull to give him the decision because he wasn’t doing much of anything other than holding and hitting Shishkin with clubbing shots while in the clinch. It wasn’t pretty to watch.
Shishkin, 33, was the more active fighter, landing straight hands and initiating most of the offensive exchanges during the fight. The Cuban Scull was buzzed by a hard right hand from Shishkin in the 12th round and conveniently lost his mouthpiece, which bought him some valuable time to recover.
Shishkin land a lot of right hand shots clean all night, but Scull took them well due to his lack of power.
Neither fighter showed much power in their shots. Scull was throwing arm punches, but he had no power on his punches even when he did load up on his shots.
Based on how Scull looked tonight, he won’t hold onto his IBF title for long unless he’s similar, judging from what we saw here. Edgar Berlanga has expressed interest in fighting for the IBF belt, but whether he could make the IBF’s 10-lb rehydration rule is doubtful.
Berlanga is massive for the 168-lb division and would have a difficult time keeping his weight down within the 10-lb rehydration limit after weighing in.
Promoter Eddie Hearn Diego Pacheco, and he’s ranked #4 IBF. He has the kind of power that would be a major threat to Scull if he can get a title shot against him.
Last Updated on 10/19/2024
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