Lucas Jones
Undisputed super middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez may have his next opponent. AGON Sports & Events, William Scull’s promoter, stated that the IBF ordered a fight between Alvarez and Scull, with the fighters’ teams having four weeks to reach an agreement and prevent the fight from going to a purse dispute.
Scull (22-0, 9 KO) is a name that comes out of nowhere if you’ve followed the last year of talk about men Alvarez could face in the ring. However, Scull defeated Evgeny Shvedenko in July 2022 in a fight that was the final title elimination for the IBF belt. That victory established Scull as a mandatory challenger, but his name did not carry the same weight as other fighters who were considered Alvarez’s mandates by other sanctioning bodies, including David Benavidez (WBC) and David Morrell (WBA), who were both considered test subjects. stiffer than Alvarez, at 168 pounds.
After the WBC and WBA failed to meet mandatory obligations for Benavidez and Morrell, the two gave up waiting for a chance they believed would never come and moved up to light heavyweight.
Alvarez defeated Jaime Munguia earlier this month and appeared to again reject the idea of a future fight with Benavidez, claiming he would have to be offered $200 million for the fight to happen. Alvarez cited Benavidez’s tendency to add as much as 25 pounds between weigh-in and fight night, despite Alvarez having moved up twice in his career to fight light heavyweight and even having repeatedly teased the idea of testing the waters in cruiserweight.
Other potential opponents for Alvarez on that May date included Jermall Charlo after Alvarez defeated Charlo’s twin brother Jermell in September, and Edgar Berlanga, who would have been one of Alvarez’s weakest opponents to date.
Alvarez still appears to have interest in a fight with Berlanga and Berlanga was somehow catapulted from No. 7 to No. 1 in the WBA rankings on the strength of a win over the unheralded Padraig McCrory in February. After Morrell announced his move to light heavyweight, the WBA announced that it would create a secondary title for Morrell’s June fight with Radivoje Kalajdzic and that Berlanga was now Alvarez’s mandatory challenger.
It remains to be seen whether Alvarez’s team attempts to claim the mandatory WBA should be next in rotation to get the Berlanga fight he wants and avoid a much smaller fight with Scull or whether attempts to pay Scull to step aside. Scull would have to accept a reduction in money in the latter scenario.
Alvarez could also choose to do nothing and potentially lose his IBF championship, losing his undisputed status at 168 pounds. It wouldn’t be the first time such a thing had happened between the fighter and the sanctioning body. Alvarez was stripped of his IBF middleweight title in 2019 when he was unable to reach an agreement to fight then-mandatory challenger Sergiy Derevyanchenko.
Of course, there is the option for Alvarez to simply fulfill his championship obligations and fight a challenger who has held mandatory status for two years.
More Boxing News, Rumors
- The saga of Devin Haney and Ryan Garcia continues to take interesting turns. Haney’s team sent the New York State Athletic Commission a nine-page letter on Monday, detailing his feelings that the fight should not only be reverted to a no contest following Garcia’s failed pre- and post-fight drug tests, but that his fighter should be declared the winner via disqualification. Haney’s team cited Garcia’s use of intravenous bags before the fight, failed drug tests and Garcia claiming he purposely lost weight by more than two pounds to give himself an advantage in the fight. Garcia responded to the report on X, formerly Twitter, claiming that I wanted the money back which was paid to Haney’s team for weightlessness, as well as citing NYSAC rules that the collection of state drug tests must be done by the commission, despite having agreed to VADA tests for the fight.
- ESPN’s Salvador Rodriguez reports that Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Victor Ortiz are set for an exhibition rematch of their 2011 fight on August 24th. In their first meeting, Ortiz became frustrated with Mayweather’s evasiveness before delivering a blatant and intentional headbutt, which occurred during a time when Ortiz was landing good strikes against the ropes. Ortiz hugged Mayweather before the referee deducted a point. Ortiz hit Mayweather’s glove while being reprimanded by the referee and then attempted another apologetic hug once the referee restarted the fight. Given that the fight was back on, Mayweather pushed Ortiz back and delivered a left hook and a straight right that dropped Ortiz for the count.
- In another strange boxing story, ESPN’s Fernando Barbosa is reporting that Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. is expected to return to action in an eight-round fight at 190 pounds on the undercard of Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson on July 20. Chavez’s opponent is reportedly selected and awaiting approval from the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. Chávez has not fought since December 2021, when he scored a decision victory over David Zegarra. This was a comeback fight for Chavez after he lost to UFC legend Anderson Silva and missed weight by 10 pounds before the fight. Since then, Chávez has battled personal demons, entering treatment facilities and facing arrests, as recently as January of this year when he was arrested on weapons charges before entering a residential treatment facility. Chávez’s placement on the card could be an attempt to set up a fight with Paul, the influencer-turned-boxer whose resume is built largely on the backs of faded stars. Chavez had discussed a fight with Paul in 2021, telling Boxeo TV: “I hope to get a few million (fighting) Jake Paul. I don’t want money if I don’t beat him.”
