Unified three-belt super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez (63-2-2, 39 KOs) defeated the defensive-minded IBF champ William Scull (23-1, 9 KOs) by a 12-round unanimous decision to win the 168-lb undisputed championship on Saturday night at The Venue in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The scores were 115-113, 116-112, 119-109. After the fight, Terence Crawford entered the ring for the face-off and announcement of the September 12th “Big fight” that Turki Alalshikh wants. Crawford is one of Turki’s favorites. Too bad David Benavidez isn’t one.
Round 1: Very few punches thrown by either fighter. Scull threw almost all jabs and landed only one right hand. Canelo connected with two rights, and missed on another. An anemic round. Canelo got the better due to his two rights. 1-0 Canelo.
Round 2: Canelo had a couple of sequences where he landed fast left-right combinations. Scull threw jabs and spent most of the round trying not to get hit. 2-0 Canelo.
Round 3: Better round for Scull. He landed a beautiful right hand to the head of Canelo, who turned with the shot. Scull threw a lot of jabs that connected. Canelo looked gun-shy. 2-1 Canelo.
Round 4: Scull countered Canelo with a hard right early in the round. Canelo is still looking gun-shy and very old. He’s not throwing. 2-2.
Round 5: Canelo landed three punches in the round. Scull mostly jabbed and moved around the ring. 3-2 Canelo.
Round 6: Scull looking like he’s just trying to survive in this round. He moved a lot, throwing keep-away punches, and he’s starting to look defeated. 4-2 Canelo.
Round 7: Earlier in the round, Canelo landed to the head and body. That woke Scull up, as he tagged Canelo with several nice shots in the second half of the round. 4-3 Canelo.
Round 8: Canelo tagged Scull with a hard to the head at the start of the round. Moments later, landed a left to the body. Scull came back to control the last half of the round with his counters. 5-3 Canelo.
Round 9: Alvarez got the better of the action in this round with his body shots. Scull used movement throughout the round, but was still able to land a few quick right hand counters. 6-3 Canelo.
Round 10: The movement of Scull has Canelo frustrated in this round. Canelo dominated with his pressure and his shots to the midsection. Scull surprisingly caught him with two big right hands that he didn’t see coming due to his handspeed. 7-3 Canelo.
Round 11: Late in the round, Canelo fouled Scull out of anger, hitting him in the back after trying to flip him. Close round. 8-3 Canelo.
Round 12: Scull moved the entire round rather than going for the knockout. Canelo landed five or six good body shots. At the end of the round, Canelo lectured Scull for not trying to fight. Scull just smiled and hugged him. 9-3 Canelo. This is the fight that Canelo wanted. So, he only has himself to blame for picking Scull rather than choosing to fight one of the top fighters like David Benavidez, David Morrell or Christian Mbilli. This is what Canelo wanted. He wants to waste time taking easy opposition, and then gets mad when they just come to survive.
WBC cruiserweight champion Badou Jack (29-3-3, 17 KOs) surprisingly won a 12-round majority decision in a fight he appeared to lose against Norair Mikaeljan (27-3, 12 KOs). The scores were 114-114, 115-113, and 115-113 for Badou. Boxing News 24 scored it 10-2 in favor of Mikaeljan. This is a classic example of a gift decision. The cleaner shots were landed by Mikaelja, who was hitting the 41-year-old Jack with big shots in every round. Jack’s best punches were in the clinch. When there was separation between them, Mikaeljan always got the better of him with his fast hands.
Super middleweight contender Jaime Munguia (45-2, 35 KOs) avenged his loss with a 12-round unanimous decision over France’s Bruno Surace (26-1-2, 5 KOs). The scores were 116-112, 117-111, and 117-111.
Surace connected early with his Cobra-like right hand, nailing the easy-to-hit Munguia repeatedly in the first three rounds. Munguia used pressure to back Surace up against the ropes to land to the body and head in rounds five through eight.
Surace was shelling up and not throwing anything back. In the last quarter of the fight, Munguia kept attacking with his body shots. Many of the shots were low. In the 12th, the referee finally warned Munguia about it, but it was a little late. All in all, not an impressive performance by Munguia. Despite winning, he looked average and would lose to the better fighters at 168. He’s a good basic contender but not elite-level.
Heavyweight contenders Efe Ajagba (21-1, 14 KOs) and Martin Bakole (21-2, 16 KOs) fought to a 10-round majority draw. The scores were 96-94 for Ajagba, 95-95, and 95-95. Ajagba built an early lead in the first three rounds, but Bakole came back to dominate rounds 4, 7, 8, 9, and 10 with his pressure. He appeared to hurt Ajagba in rounds eight, nine, and ten with his heavy Foreman-esque shots. Ajagba suffered a bloody nose in the seventh. His face was covered with blood in the ninth and tenth rounds from the hard clubbing shots from Bakole.
Unbeaten light heavyweight prospect Brayan Leon (7-0, 6 KOs) defeated the durable Aaron Rocha Guerrero (11-4-1, 7 KOs) by a six-round points decision. The score was 60-54. The two-time Cuban junior national champion Leon, 22, dropped Guerrero with a hard left hook to the head in round four. Guerrero bravely fought well, refusing to fold and going the distance. In the third, Guerrero staggered Leon with a left hook that he didn’t see coming. It was a good performance from Leon. However, he was getting hit a lot tonight. He can’t afford to get tagged as often once he starts facing contenders who can punch.
Heavyweight Richard Riakporhe (19-1, 14 KOs) stopped journeyman Kevin Nicolas Espindola (9-10, 4 KOs) in a fourth-round TKO. Riakporhe, 35, dropped the chunky-looking 297-lb Espindola with a body shot in the fourth. Although he got up and fought well to make it out of the round, his corner chose not to let him come out for round five. The time of the stoppage was at 3:00 of round four.
Middleweight prospect Marco Verde (1-0, 1 KOs) destroyed Michel Galvan Polina (4-6-3, 2 KOs). The 2024 Olympian Verde, 23, dropped Polina twice to get the stoppage at 1:34 of the first round.
Super featherweight prospect Mohammed Alakel (4-0) outworked Alexander Morales (6-14-5, 2 KOs), winning a six-round points decision. The score was 60-54.