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Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez vs William Scull: Who Wins?

Originally posted on Fights Around The World
By Adam Noble-Forcey | Last updated May 1, 2025 12:48 PM ET

IBF super middleweight champion William Scull will stand across from Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez as an unknown quantity to the vast majority of boxing fans on Saturday.

Canelo (62-2-2, 39 KOs) will look to become a two-time undisputed super middleweight champion when he collides with Scull (23-0, 9 KOs) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Cuba’s Scull will make the first defense of his red and gold belt, having claimed the title Canelo vacated with an awkward performance against the undefeated Vladimir Shishkin in his adopted Germany last October. One month before Cuba crowned its latest world champion, Canelo had scored a resounding unanimous-decision victory over Edgar Berlanga, dropping the Puerto Rican in the third round.

This time last year, Scull found himself buried deep on the Canelo-Jaime Munguia undercard, fighting in front of an empty arena in an eight-rounder against the little-known 16-1 Sean Hemphill. Scull would floor his American opponent on his way to a routine unanimous decision victory. If you said at the time that in 2025, he would be facing off with Canelo for an undisputed championship, many would have scoffed at the idea. However, within just five months, his Berlin-based promoter AGON Sports was able to lure the undefeated Shishkin to Germany for a shot at a vacant title.

SCULL’S CREDENTIALS

The 32-year-old stationed in the German capital of Berlin most impressive victory is comfortably his last fight against Shishkin. It was a reasonably dull affair as the Russian struggled to engage for a large part of the fight, but in the final round, Shishkin had Scull stunned and spat his mouthpiece out to help run down the clock.

Prior to his crowning moment, Scull’s second most notable victory was when he took on another undefeated Russian, Evgeny Shvedenko, nearly three years ago. Scull claimed a comfortable unanimous decision win following a tactical astute performance. The judges saw it 118-110 and twice at 117-111. In between Scull’s two toughest fights to date were two little-known Argentine gatekeepers, Abel Nicholas Adriel and Christian Fabian Rios (26-25-3, 5 KOs and 23-18-3, 7 KOs at the time). The slot against Hemphill on the Canelo undercard came straight after.

CANELO FORM

Canelo’s last two combatants have seen the canvas, but both Berlanga and Munguia heard the final bell. Many have claimed that Canelo, who tore through the super middleweight division ahead of a loss to Dmitry Bivol at light heavyweight, would have gotten rid of them. At 34 years old and with 66 professional contests to his name, you could argue it’s the natural question. However, Canelo’s four-fight deal with Saudi-backed powerbroker Turki Alalshikh points to the Mexican superstar putting on more big events. Despite not claiming a knockout victory for three and a half years, he’s dropped and hurt his last four opponents.

SAUL ‘CANELO’ ALVAREZ VS. WILLIAM SCULL PREDICTION

It’s hard to expect anything too far removed from a knockout victory for Canelo on Saturday, despite the Mexican not securing a stoppage victory since seven fights ago against Caleb Plant in 2021. However, although Scull deserves some recognition for claiming a world title, his level of opposition has been far from elite, let alone anywhere close to that of boxing’s biggest superstar. I predict Canelo will want to make a serious statement as he prepares for a highly reported mega fight with Terence Crawford, so a knockout victory for Canelo by round eight. The more you analyze Canelo’s Riyadh Season debut, the more you will realize it’s a mismatch with little risk as they look to his next date scheduled in September.