While it wasn’t one of his better performances, Canelo Alvarez is once again the undisputed champion at 168 pounds after defeating William Scull by unanimous decision at ANB Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Saturday.
The judges scored the fight 115-113, 116-112 and 119-109 in favor Alvarez.
With the win, the 34-year-old Alvarez(63-2-2, 39 KOs) becomes a two-time undisputed champion at 168 pounds; he captures Scull’s IBF 168-pound strap and retains his WBA/WBC/WBO belts.
Following his recent triumph, Alvarez’s next challenge has been revealed. He is set to face the two-division undisputed champion Terence Crawford on September 12 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. This announcement has undoubtedly sparked excitement among boxing enthusiasts.
Like many fights this weekend, Alvarez-Scull was not very exciting. According to CompuBox, a combined 445 punches were thrown(Canelo (152), Scull (293)), which is the record for the fewest punches thrown in a 12-round fight. Alvarez’s 152 punches thrown was the second fewest punches thrown in a 12-round fight.
Despite throwing 141 fewer punches, Alvarez landed more (56-55). Scull landed single digits in all 12 rounds. Canelo landed single digits in 11 of 12 rounds, according to CompuBox.
Scull(23-1, 9 KOs) used a lot of movement against Alvarez, which led to not many punches being thrown or landing. To Scull’s credit, he was in the fight because Alvarez did not do the best job of cutting off the ring. If Scull was just a little more aggressive, he could have possibly won this fight, but in the end, Alvarez did what he needed to do, and now we have a big fight in September.
Based on what we saw against Scull, Crawford might be the favorite despite moving up two weight classes. However, it isn’t easy to move up two weight classes. There are weight classes for a reason, but if any fighter can move up and be effective, it’s Crawford.
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