Saúl “Canelo” Álvarez successfully retained his undisputed super middleweight championship by securing a unanimous decision victory over William Scull. The fight, which took place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Saturday night, was largely forgettable, with Álvarez failing to deliver a dominant performance.
Competing outside of Mexico and the U.S. for the first time, Álvarez held the WBC, WBO, and WBA titles going into the bout. Despite his champion status, he found it difficult to land significant punches on the highly mobile Scull. The judges` scorecards reflected the less-than-emphatic win, reading 115-113, 116-112, and 119-109 in favor of Álvarez.
With this win, Álvarez (63-2-2, 39 KOs) is set to move on to a highly anticipated clash with Terence Crawford. That fight is scheduled for September 12th at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
Álvarez had previously unified all four major super middleweight belts by defeating Caleb Plant via 11th-round TKO in November 2021. He successfully defended these titles four times before being stripped of the IBF title. This occurred when he opted to fight Edgar Berlanga instead of facing William Scull, who was the mandatory challenger at the time.
Scull (23-1, 9 KOs) had previously fought Vladimir Shishkin in October for the vacant IBF title, winning a controversial unanimous decision. This fight against Álvarez marked Scull`s first attempt at defending that title.
In the co-main event, Badou Jack defended his WBC cruiserweight title by earning a majority decision win against Norair Mikaeljan. This was Jack`s (29-3-3, 17 KOs) first fight in two years, following his previous win via 12th-round TKO against Ilunga Junior Makabu to claim the belt. Jack was initially scheduled to face Ryan Rozicki, but an injury forced Rozicki to withdraw in early April.
Mikaeljan (27-3, 12 KOs) entered the ring as the WBC champion in recess. He was on a four-fight winning streak heading into this bout, with his last loss being a decision defeat to Mairis Briedis in November 2018.
Ellis Thorne 
Percy Harlow