Who Is William Scull, The Cuban One Win Away From A Super-Middleweight World Title?
The super-middleweight division will soon have a new champion after the IBF ordered its two top-ranked contenders, William Scull and Vladimir Shishkin, to fight for its vacant world title next month.
Scull (22-0-0 9 KO) and Shishkin (16-0-0 10 KO) are set to fight at the Town Hall in Falkensee, near Berlin, Germany on October 19, with the winner emerging as a world champion.
The title had become vacant after the IBF stripped Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez after the Mexican refused to fulfill his mandatory duties to fight Scull. Instead, Canelo, who still holds the other three belts, will fight Edgar Berlanga next weekend on September 14 in Las Vegas.
The recent turn of events – from Canelo being stripped to Scull being announced for his first world title fight – has thrust the Cuban into the spotlight.
Yet, not that much is known about ‘El Indomable’. He has no Wikipedia page (the only William Scull is an 18th-century American cartographer) and his Instagram following is just over 8,000. For a fighter on the brink of potentially joining mega-star Canelo as a 168lb champion, he is incredibly low-profile.
So, with a month until the biggest fight of his career, here is everything we know about William Scull.
Boxing Career Of Scull
Like every Cuban boxer who advances to the professional ranks, Scull built up a wealth of amateur experience. He told Boxing Scene in a recent interview that he contested a massive 364 amateur bouts.
However, there is little information about how successful he was; he never competed at the Olympics and it doesn’t seem like he participated in any World Championships. Info regarding his success at national level is also difficult to find.
Scull turned professional in November 2016 and was initially based in Argentina for the first phase of his career, contesting his first nine bouts in the South American country.
Two fights in Germany followed either side of his two most recent outings in Argentina, the last of which earned Scull his first title; he collected the South American super-middleweight belt by stopping Sebastian Horacio Papeschi in July 2019.
Scull then switched his promotional allegiance to the Germany-based AGON Sports, who have guided his career since. The Cuban picked up his first minor world-level title in February 2021 by dominating Gino Kanters on points for the IBO international belt, before adding the IBF Latino strap two fights later by knocking out Deneb Diaz in the second round.
Having steadily climbed the IBF rankings, that victory set up the biggest fight of Scull’s career against Evgeny Shvdenko in an IBF world title eliminator in July 2022. The Cuban proceeded to dominate the previously unbeaten Russian to move into the top-ranked challenger spot.
Since then, though, Scull has been involved in low-profile six- and eight-round bouts, the most recent being a points win over Sean Hemphill in May on the undercard of Canelo’s last undisputed title defense against Jaime Munguia before he was stripped of the IBF belt. It was Scull’s US debut.
Scull Fight Style
As a Cuban with close to 400 amateur fights, it should come as no surprise that Scull has excellent boxing fundamentals and ring intelligence, which allow him to land point-scoring shots and rack up the rounds.
Those fundamentals are found in both his offense and defense; offensively, Scull is an accurate puncher with fast hands capable of creating openings and finding the target. Defensively, he possesses impressive anticipation, both in his ability to block and step out of range. All of this is possible thanks to arguably his best attributes: his movement and footwork.
The one potential weakness is the lack of explosive, knockout power. Most elite-level fighters need to be able to bang – even the most skilled boxers can’t always rely on taking opponents the distance and winning on the cards.
It’s not been a problem so far, but if Scull gets his hands on a world title on October 19, then he will need to display better power against the likes of Diego Pacheco, Christian Mbilli, Jaime Munguia, and any other top-tier contenders keen to challenge the champion.
What’s Next?
A big fight against Shishkin in Germany is Scull’s only focus. The Florida-based Russian represents Scull’s toughest and by far the biggest fight of his career so far. Naturally, the Cuban is not taking his opponent lightly.
“From the little I’ve seen, he is a great boxer who also earned his position,” Scull said. “You cannot underestimate your rival. It’s going to be a war between Russia and Cuba.”
Shishkin, meanwhile, simply described a fight against Scull as “easy work.”
Should the Cuban be successful next month, it will open a world of possibilities in a stacked super-middleweight division. The likes of Pacheco, Mbilli, Munguia, and many other contenders will be lining up for a crack at Scull and his belt, viewing the 32-year-old as an easier route to world champion status than facing Canelo.
That should suit Scull just fine, giving the Cuban more opportunities to operate at the top level.
