Canelo Chasing Undisputed Again After Scull Fight Is Announced
Canelo Alvarez’s next fight will officially be against William Scull at 168 pounds for Cinco de Mayo.
Canelo will have the opportunity to become undisputed for the second time by picking up Scull’s IBF Super Middleweight Title in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The fight could have happened last year when Scull was mandatory for Canelo’s IBF title. But Alvarez made the decision to face Edgar Berlanga instead, as he was stripped of the IBF title. The Balanga fight was taken as it was seen as a much more lucrative bout. That proved to be the case, as the fight sold 650,000 PPVs.
Canelo Vs. Scull
It also generated a live gate of $17 million. Canelo secured a one-sided unanimous decision, justifying his decision to take that fight. A win over Scull makes him undisputed for a second time. Scull is coming off a unanimous decision win against Vladimir Shishkin for the vacant IBF belt. That extended his undefeated record to 23-0. But he will face a mammoth task in trying to overcome Alvarez, who has only lost twice to Floyd Mayweather and Dmitry Bivol. Canelo has also never been stopped, while Scull has just nine knockouts to his name.
It is the biggest fight of Scull’s career. He will, at the very least, secure the biggest purse that he has ever achieved. The fight is also critical for Canelo, as it will set up a September clash against Terence Crawford. The Crawford fight also becomes much bigger if Canelo enters into the bout as undisputed.
Paul Reacts
Crawford has already achieved undisputed at 140 and 147. A win makes him the first man to become undisputed in three weight classes. The news also ended hope of any Jake Paul fight after initial reports suggested that The Problem Child was considered as an opponent. Paul was unhappy with the decision, as he hit out at Canelo, who had allegedly agreed to terms.
“We had a signed contract to fight. You can see Canelo’s signature and my signature to the right. Claiming he’s ‘not fighting YouTubers’ —. We were announcing (the fight on) Tuesday, February 11. Claiming he fights real fighters but he’s fighting Crawford, a 135 lb fighter, and running from a real fighter like David Benavidez, you [fool].
“The truth is, you can be bought. You’re a money-hungry squirrel chasing your next nut. The truth is, these sports-washing, shady characters are paying you hundreds of millions of dollars to stop our fight from happening, because they couldn’t fathom the fact that they can’t create a bigger fight than me and you.
“You were begging to do this fight on pay-per-view, but I have loyalty to Netflix (and) doing the biggest numbers. And you call me a YouTuber, but you’ve never had a boxing match as big as mine. … You’re screwing over all your Mexican fans by doing your fights in Saudi. … And I promise you one thing, Canelo, any fight that you do this year, mine will be bigger,” Paul said
Find all the latest boxing news and MMA breaking updates on boxingnews.com.
