Canelo Alvarez warns his community about the abilities of the “nobody” William Scull ahead of the fight on May 3 for the undisputed world super-middleweight championship.
When he was officially announced as Canelo Alvarez’s (62-2-2, 39 knockouts) next opponent, most of the Mexican superstar’s fans had the same question: William Scull – who is he? Scull has always flown under the radar, wrote the trade magazine “The Ring” recently: “Not because he wanted to, but because he had no other choice.
“He knows how to use the ring”
“He has that Cuban school,” Canelo explained in an interview with the boxing portal FightHype.com. “It’s very complicated. Scull knows how to use the ring. He has a very good jab, he has qualities.” The fact is that William Scull (23-0, 9 knockouts) only got his big chance to fight for a world championship in his early 30s, but when the super middleweight from the AGON stable was given this opportunity last year, he took full advantage of it.
Scull already fought his way to the position of IBF mandatory challenger for Alvarez in 2022. But instead of defending his throne as Undisputed Champ, Canelo decided to simply drop the IBF belt last year. The federation then stripped the pound-for-pound star of his world championship belt and declared it vacant. In October 2024, Scull and Russia’s Vladimir Shishkin fought for the vacant crown.
Always keep an eye on
But even after “El Indomable” had won the IBF super-middleweight belt, few boxing fans on the planet could relate to the name “Scull”. Alvarez, on the other hand, kept an eye on the AGON boxer. Although the world champion of the WBC, WBA and WBO federations has by no means seen every fight of his rival, there are enough to know how dangerous Scull is.
The two champions will now meet in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia) on May 3. Alvarez is very much looking forward to the undisputed duel. “Scull is world champion and I want to become undisputed champion again, for the second time,” emphasizes Canelo.
In contrast to trainer Eddy Reynoso’s 34-year-old protégé, many fans are reluctant to watch the world championship fight against Scull – the Canelo community would have preferred to see their favorite fight David Benavidez, Dmitry Bivol, Christian Mbilli or even Diego Pacheco. Some of these young, hungry contenders are big names. But unlike Scull, none of them have what Canelo Alvarez desperately wants next.
Text: Frank Schwantes