Team Canelo Alvarez has reportedly approached IBF super middleweight champion William Scull (23-0, 9 KOs) for a fight in May on the Mexican Cinco de Mayo holiday weekend.
This undisputed championship match would give Canelo (62-2-2, 39 KOs) a chance to recapture his IBF title to make him a two-time four-belt champion.
Surprise Opponent
It’s a bit of a surprise that Canelo is looking to face Scull, as there have been rumors that the Mexican superstar is planning to fight Terence Crawford next May. Those were fake news, as Canelo is now looking to potentially fight the Cuban Scull next, looking to become an undisputed champion at 168.
On October 19th, the 32-year-old Scull, based in Germany, won the IBF title against Vladimir Shishkin in a 12-round unanimous decision. Although his performance wasn’t impressive, Scull got the job done, winning the fight despite a questionable decision in Germany. There had been talk of a rematch to clear up the controversy, but that doesn’t look like it will happen.
“William Scull confirms for the program Cubanos Punos that there is a rapprochement between his team and the #Canelo Team for a possible unifying confrontation next May in Las Vegas. Scull adds that this January 10, there will be an official meeting between both teams to finally agree on everything. Furthermore, the IBF Super Middleweight World Champion clarifies that Berlanga did exist as a possibility, as did Christian Mbilli, who was ruled out for monetary reasons,” said Carlos Linares on X.
Boxing fans on social media are taking the news of Canelo vs. Scull, which could potentially happen next, pretty hard. Many of them wanted to see Terence Crawford as Alvarez’s next opponent. However, Crawford doesn’t bring much to the table either because he’s NOT a household name with casual boxing fans in the U.S.
A segment of hardcore boxing fans enjoy Crawford’s counterpunching fighting style, but he’s never been a PPV attraction. He has only had one fight that brought in good numbers against Errol Spence.
Errol, not Crawford, brought the fans in. It’s reported that Terence’s last fight against Israil Madrimov, their August 3rd clash on DAZN pay-per-view, brought in 75,000 to 100,000 PPV buys. Those are terrible numbers, which confirms that Crawford isn’t a PPV attraction.
