Boxing

Who Is To Blame For The Canelo Alvarez vs William Scull Debacle?

There's plenty of blame to go around for how Saul "Canelo" Alvarez vs William Scull played out.
Nathaniel Marrero|
Canelo Alvarez
Canelo Alvarez | IMAGO/ZUMA Press Wire

One of boxing's most stacked weekends in recent memory has fallen flat on its face.

Rather than reversing course after a disappointing Times Square card that saw a potential rematch between Devin Haney and Ryan Garcia disperse into flames on Friday, Saul "Canelo" Alvarez vs. William Scull for the undisputed super middleweight title turned out to be arguably the worst fight of the weekend thus far and one of the worst title fights in recent memory on Saturday.

Canelo became a two-time undisputed super middleweight champion with a unanimous decision victory in a fight that likely put many fans to sleep and made the mostly Saudi Arabian audience question why they got into the sport and regret waking up early in the morning in Saudi Arabia to watch it.

Canelo (63-2-2, 39 KOs) and Scull combined to throw the least amount of punches in a 12-round fight in CompuBox's 40-year history, as the Cuban was more than apt to move around the ring and refuse to engage with the now two-time undisputed super middleweight champion, who struggled to cut off the ring against the former champion turned track star. There's plenty of blame to go around and few hands are clean among those involved with what transpired on Saturday night.

Scull (23-1, 9 KOs) is the one who likely deserves the most blame. His performance was the antithesis of putting it all on the line to make the most of an opportunity. It was a heist, as he made millions of dollars to do his best impression of Usain Bolt for 36 minutes and made a mockery of fighting for any belt in boxing, let alone the undisputed championship.

Even if Scull were to work his way back up the ladder, the odds of someone other than a close friend, family member, or a member of his team being excited to see him fight again are slim to none. That's how bad the fight was against Canelo.

The IBF could garner much of the blame without many fans batting an eye, as well. Scull hadn't done anything to warrant earning a title shot, especially when there are fighters like Christian Mbilli, Diego Pacheco, Osleys Iglesias, Caleb Plant, among others, who are proven contenders with much better wins on their resumes in the same division. Iglesias is the highest ranked of that group by the IBF at No. 4, while Mbilli and Pacheco are outside of the top 10 and Plant isn't in the top 15 despite being a former champion

Mbilli (28-0, 23 KOs) is ranked No. 1 for the WBA and WBC and No. 2 by the WBO, while Pacheco (23-0, 18 KOs) is ranked No. 1 by the WBO, No. 2 by the WBC and No. 6 by the WBA.

In Scull's three fights before fighting for the vacant IBF title after Canelo was stripped for refusing to face him, he fought in a pair of eight-round fights and one six-round bout. Then, Scull faced Vladimir Shishkin for the IBF title and won by unanimous decision in another snoozefest on Oct. 19, 2024, in his adopted home country of Germany.

The super middleweight division is far from the only one that should draw question marks regarding the IBF. They don't have a No. 1 contender in eight of the 17 men's divisions in boxing. Among those eight, there are four where they don't have a No. 1 and No. 2 ranked fighter.

George Kambosos, who is facing IBF junior welterweight champion Richardson Hitchins on June 14 in New York, is ranked No. 3 after defeating late replacement Jake Wylie by unanimous decision in his lone fight in the division and has gone 2-3 in his last five fights. He's ranked ahead of numerous fighters who have done more at 140 pounds, including former IBF junior welterweight champion Liam Paro, Dalton Smith and Jose Ramirez, among others.

The IBF isn't the only sanctioning body that leaves many fans wondering the rhyme and reason for anything that they do. The WBC could have done its part by enforcing David Benavidez as the mandatory challenger while he held the interim belt for Canelo during his first run as undisputed super middleweight champion. Instead, the lone challenger the WBC has enforced was John Ryder to give Canelo a homecoming bout in Mexico in 2023.

The WBA put a secondary welterweight title on the line for Rolando "Rolly" Romero vs Ryan Garcia on Friday in Times Square when neither had a single fight in the division. The WBO put a secondary title on the line for the egregious mismatch that was Edgar Berlanga vs. Jonathan Gonzalez-Ortiz on March 15 in Orlando before the former missed weight and was ineligible to win the belt. Berlanga won by first-round knockout.

Still, had the IBF not had Scull as its mandatory challenger before stripping Canelo of the title for refusing to face him last September, they would likely never be mentioned in the same sentence, let alone share the ring in a fight for the undisputed super middleweight title.

Canelo and his handlers aren't without blame either. Being a two-time undisputed super middleweight champion looks good at first glance, but it wasn't close to worth what transpired on Saturday night.

Facing Scull continued a disappointing trend in the latter part of his career. Since losing to Dmitry Bivol on May 7, 2022, he's faced a well past his prime Gennadiy Golovkin, Ryder, Jermell Charlo, who hadn't fought above middleweight, Jaime Munguia, and Berlanga, whose best win was Padraig McCrory or Jason Quigley, before facing Scull.

The only name that truly earned his shot at Canelo was Munguia, with wins over Sergiy Derevyanchenko and Ryder before they fought last year and the Golovkin fight was somewhat acceptable because of what transpired in their first two fights, though four years had passed from the second and third bout.

The first fight ended in a disputed draw that many believed Golovkin won on Sept. 16, 2017. One year later, their second fight was one of the best in recent memory, as they engaged in a tactical war, going back and forth for 12 rounds, with Canelo getting the nod by majority decision in a fight that could have gone either way. Canelo's win over Golovkin in the second fight likely remains the best of his career.

Canelo won each fight by a clear unanimous decision, though. Neither victory has added much, if anything, to his legacy. He was a significant favorite heading into every fight, and they all mostly followed a pattern with Canelo seizing control of the fight before coasting for the remainder, all the while claiming he's still one of, if not the best, pound-for-pound fighter in the world.

A fight vs Benavidez (30-0, 24 KOs), who is now the WBC light heavyweight champion, would have done more for Canelo's already tremendous legacy than his last six fights. Even with a loss, just facing Benavidez would have drawn universal praise. And if Canelo defeated Benavidez, one could make a compelling case that it would be the best win of his career and strengthen his case as the greatest Mexican boxer of all time.

Canelo will defend his undisputed super middleweight title against Terence Crawford on September 12 in Las Vegas at Allegiant Stadium. Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) is a four-division champion and a two-time undisputed champion, accomplishing the feat at junior welterweight and welterweight. Crawford has yet to fight above 154 pounds in his career, and has only done so once, when he defeated Israil Madrimov by unanimous decision to become the WBA junior middleweight champion in his last fight on Aug. 3.

Crawford will be moving up to 168 pounds to face Canelo, though, the odds he decides to stink out the fight feel slim to none, as they'll be facing each other in a fight that could very well decide who is the best fighter of this era.

Saturday night was a debacle in a weekend that has been full of them for boxing. It has gone from one of the most exciting and stacked three days of fights to a complete dud two days in. Now, our sights turn to "The Monster" Naoya Inoue vs. Ramon Cardenas for the undisputed junior featherweight title in Las Vegas, in hopes that they'll make us forget about what has transpired in boxing in the last 48-plus hours.

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Nathaniel Marrero
NATHANIEL MARRERO

Nathaniel Marrero is a writer for the Boxing, Pittsburgh Pirates and Baltimore Ravens On SI sites. He's also written for the Orlando Sentinel and MLB.com, and was a part of UCF's sports show, Hitting The Field. He attended UCF and graduated with a bachelor's degree in journalism in 2023. Twitter/X: Nate_Marrero

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