Unbeaten #1 ranked William Scull (23-0, 9 KOs) outdueled #2 Vladimir Shishkin (16-1, 10 KOs), winning a questionable 12-round unanimous decision to capture the vacant IBF super middleweight title on Saturday night at the Stadthalle in Falkensee, Germany.
Shishkin, 33, was the aggressor throughout, landing clean right hands and appearing to control virtually every round of the fight. In the twelfth, Shishkin appeared to hurt the Cuban Scull with a nice shot, causing him to lose his mouthpiece.
It’s unclear if Scull spit it out or if it fell out. Either way, he was given a timeout that may have saved him from being stopped.
The scores were 116-113, 116-112, and 115-113.
The fight had a basic routine where Shishkin would land a straight right and then hold. During the clinches, Scull would club him with shots to the side and back of his head.
Scull threw mostly arm punches in the clinch and repeatedly hit Shishkin with punches behind the head. In several of the rounds, Scull hit Shishkin with shots that came after the bell had sounded. All in all, it wasn’t a pretty fight to watch.
After the fight, Scull called out WBA, WBC, and WBO super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez, hoping to entice him into fighting for the undisputed championship. It’s unlikely that Canelo will show any interest in fighting Scull because he’s still unknown to the boxing public in the U.S. and Mexico.
There’s no money in a fight against him. Canelo vs. Scull wouldn’t interest fans to purchase the fight on PPV, even if the undercard were loaded. Scull has no punching power and does a lot of holding.
Scull’s best bet for a decent money fight is if promoter Eddie Hearn wants to match his fighter Edgar Berlanga against him. It might be interesting if Berlanga could handle the IBF’s 10-lb rehydration limit, which is highly doubtful.
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