Boxing

Teddy Atlas Calls Out Canelo Alvarez For 'Stinker', Claims William Scull May Have Won

Boxing legend Teddy Atlas didn't mince words about Canelo Alvarez's showing against William Scull this past weekend.
Grant Young|
Sep 17, 2022; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; Canelo Alvarez (red trunks) and Gennadiy Golovkin (white trunks) box during a super middleweight championship bout at T-Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images
Sep 17, 2022; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; Canelo Alvarez (red trunks) and Gennadiy Golovkin (white trunks) box during a super middleweight championship bout at T-Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images | Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images

After the fights that took place in New York City's Times Square on May 2 were all duds and failed to deliver excitement, there was a hope that the May 3 bout between Saul "Canelo" Alvarez and William Scull to unify the super middleweight titles would make up for what the Times Square card was missing.

Then Canelo vs Scull produced a fight that was arguably more boring than any of the Times Square bouts. While Canelo won convincingly, there were very few punches thrown, and certainly no excitement that fans have come to expect from the face of boxing.

Boxing legend Teddy Atlas has seen plenty of fights, both boring and exciting, over his iconic career as a trainer and an analyst. And during a May 6 episode of his THE FIGHT with Teddy Atlas podcast, he had some harsh words about Saturday's fight.

"I think Canelo has to take some blame, too. It was a stinker," Atlas said. "Scull, he didn't fight so much to win as he did to survive and steal the fight... It's easy to be on the side of Canelo, and I get you."

MORE: Oscar De La Hoya Slams Canelo Alvarez After William Scull Fight: "It's Sad, It Really Is"

Atlas later said, "I could see even giving it to [Scull]. I would see a possibility of it being a draw or a one-point win for Scull... I wouldn't have been, in my mind, shocked that Scull could have earned a one-point win or a draw."

"Technically, if Scull won, which I think there is a possibility he did. If we take out emotion out of it... If you put it aside, and you just look at it in a cold way, I could see, technically, the reason you could look at Scull to get [the win]."

Atlas also said that he personally wouldn't have given the win to Scull, if only because he didn't fight like a challenger who truly wanted to win, as opposed to fighting like someone who was merely trying to survive.

He also suggested that Canelo has made too much money to show any urgency or put his foot on the gas pedal against Scull.

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Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

Grant Young is a Staff Writer for On SI’s Boxing, New York Mets, Indiana Fever, and Women’s Fastbreak sites. Before joining SI in 2024, he wrote for various boxing and sports verticals such as FanBuzz and NY Fights. Young has a bachelor’s degree in marketing and a master’s degree in creative writing with an emphasis on sports nonfiction from the University of San Francisco, where he played five seasons of Division 1 baseball. He fought Muay Thai professionally in Thailand in 2023, loves a good essay, and is driven crazy trying to handle a pitpull puppy named Aura. Young lives in San Diego and was raised in the San Francisco Bay Area.