Canelo Alvarez and William Scull will battle for the undisputed gold at 168 on May 3rd in Turki Al-Sheikh’s card at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. All four super middleweight titles will be at stake for this contest, which sees Canelo putting up his WBA, WBC and WBO titles to Scull’s IBF strap.
Scull: A Nobody for A Big Fight
Few boxing fans in the U.S have ever seen the 32-year-old William Scull fight before, and the ones that have were disappointed at how terrible he looked in his controversial 12-round decision win over Vladimir Shishkin (16-1, 10 KOs) last year on October 19th at the Stadthalle, Falkensee. Scull won, but fans on social media saw him losing.
If there wasn’t this pressing need for Canelo to recapture the IBF to validate the glorified tune-up fight against Scull, it would be better for the boxing public worldwide for the Mexican superstar to fight someone more appealing that will attract interest. Fans don’t want to see Canelo fight the little-known Scull. They either have never seen him before or view him as mediocre, which is how I view him.
This is Canelo’s first bout of his four-fight deal with Turki, which will set the table for what he refers to as “The big fight” against Terence Crawford on September 13th in Las Vegas. That’s Turki Al-Sheikh’s crown jewel that he’s wanted for a long time, but it not live up to the hype, unfortunately.
Real vs. Fake
What Turki should have done was insist on Canelo, 34, fighting a good opponent to create interest in his “big fight” against Crawford. Canelo should fight one of these guys to drive interest in his title defense against the 154-lb Crawford:
– David Benavidez
– David Morrell
– Artur Beterbiev
– Osleys Iglesias
– Dmitry Bivol
These are TRUE “big fights,” not fake ones like Canelo-Crawford. That’s fool’s gold, a sham money fight. Crawford would stand no chance against Canelo or other fighters on the above list.
All of those fighters would likely easily beat Scull AND Crawford. Those would not be close fights, any of them. It’s unclear If Turki could have persuaded Canelo to fight any of those five fighters to use as a set-up for his “big fight” against Crawford, but I doubt he would. Canelo already lost to Bivol.
Morrell and Benavidez would be totally dangerous for Canelo. Beterbiev would obviously knock out Canelo. For those who haven’t seen Osleys Iglesias, he’s for real, and easily the best fighter at 168 now. He would beat Canelo.
The legend Saul Alvarez Canelo will fight William Scull in undisputed fight in Riyadh on the 3rd of May … if he win the fight in September will be undisputed again 🔥🥊
— TURKI ALALSHIKH (@Turki_alalshikh) February 8, 2025
Good luck @Canelo in your next fight. I’m looking forward to becoming a 3x Undisputed Champion.😉
— Terence Crawford (@terencecrawford) February 9, 2025
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