Canelo Alvarez poses for a photo after retaining the 168-pound champion by unanimous decision over Jaime Munguia at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez is slated to face a mandatory undefeated opponent.
No, not that one.
Watch for Alvarez from Guadalajara to face William Scull from Germany again, who is forced to enter the IBF for almost two years. Negotiation time has been given for both sides to reach an agreement and avoid a fund bid hearing.
AGON Sports & Events, the German Scull promoter, confirmed the development on Tuesday morning.
The IBF has ordered a fight between Canelo and William Scull. Both parties have 4 weeks to reach an agreement or they will withdraw the bid.#CaneloScull pic.twitter.com/MmUtH9oYCQ
– AGON Sports & Events (@agon_boxing) May 14, 2024
Alvarez (60-2-2, 39 knockouts) is the champion of The Ring at 168, and holds all four major heavyweight titles. He has defended the Ring championship seven times since winning in December 2020 against Callum Smith. The four have come with every major title at stake since the November 2021 eleventh round knockout of then-undefeated IBF Caleb Plant to round out the division.
Scull (22-0, 9 KOs) became the mandatory challenger after a July 2022 points win over Evgeny Shvedenko. The title decider between the undefeated competitors saw Scull—a Berlin-based Cuban exporter—win by unanimous decision.
This 31-year-old player has only three fights. The latest was an eight-round submission victory over Sean Hemphill on May 4 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The fight took place in the non-televised undercard of Alvarez’s win over fellow countryman Jaime Munguia.
In the house that night was Edgar Berlanga from Brooklyn, The Ring’s No. 10 super middleweight contenders. Berlanga (22-0, 17 KOs) was expected to get a call-up again as a mandatory WBA fighter.
Berlanga was on the short list of opponents to face Alvarez in May. His name was in the running along with Munguia, who ended up winning the sweepstakes.
It was believed that Alvarez would go ahead to face Berlanga in September, given the switch order.
Alvarez was on the WBA ‘Normal’ list when he dethroned Liverpool’s Smith to claim the full title and the vacant WBC belt.
Only two significant title challenges were honored during his reign. Alvarez stopped the former WBC No. 1 contender. 1 Avni Yildirim in the third round of their Feb. 2021 in Miami. More than two years later, Alvarez returned home for a WBO tie against England’s John Ryder, whom he nominated last May.
The combined topic list is given more freedom between the ordered topic protection. Sanctioning agencies often adhere to an agreed replacement plan, although that part needs to be worked out in advance.
Alvarez has yet to defend against an IBF-designated opponent. Plant satisfied the final obligation of that title when he revealed Caleb Truax at their meeting in Jan. 2021.
Berlanga was recently named a WBA official. The call comes nearly two months after his sixth-round knockout of undefeated Padraig McCrory in Feb. 24 in Orlando, Florida. At the time, the fight was to determine who would be the next challenger for WBA ‘Regular’ David Morrell’s title.
That decision quickly changed after Morrell, No. The undefeated Cuban will face Radivoje Kalajdzic for the interim WBA 175-pound title on August 3 in Los Angeles.
Alvarez can still fight the next opponent of his choosing, He will risk breaking his undisputed reign under the worst possible measure.
IBF Rule 5.c requires its champions to honor mandatory title fights. Failure to comply with this order “shall be sufficient reason for the Tournament Committee and Board of Directors to consider revoking recognition of the title.”
This is familiar territory for Alvarez, whose last experience with the IBF mandatory changed the course of his career.
A middleweight title defense against Sergiy Derevyanchenko ended with Alvarez being stripped of the belt in 2019. The handling of the matter damaged the decade-long relationship between Alvarez and Golden Boy Promotions; they both broke up in 2020.
Alvarez defeated Daniel Jacobs in their May 2019 RING, WBC, WBA and IBF unification bout. It was immediately followed by an order for the next defense against Derevyanchenko. The issue came to a head this summer when the IBF announced that the title was vacant.
Such drastic measures are not expected with this order. Although neither party can entertain another war during negotiations, both sides should only reach an agreement. Sanctioning bodies have allowed voluntary defenses if both fighters agree to the terms.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for The Ring and vice president of the Boxing Writers Association of America.
