By: Sean Crose
Although he’s the IBF super middleweight champ, William Scull does not get even a slight percentage of the respect his opponent this weekend does. For Scull will be facing the one and only Canelo Alvarez this Saturday in Saudi Arabia. Most see the title fight as essentially being a glorified tune up, as Canelo has been thought in some circles to be taking on Terence Crawford next. With an undefeated record of – however, it’s clear that Scull should be seen as more than a stay busy opponent for future Hall of Fame Canelo. Still, there’s legitimate reason for the 23-0 Scull to be viewed as the underdog heading into this weekend.
While some might argue he’s no longer at this zenith, Canelo has faced one top level opponent after another throughout the course of his legendary career. He’s defeated Sergey Kovalev, after all, and Miguel Cotto and Callum Smith and Caleb Plant and Amir Khan and Austin Trout and Erislandy Lara and who knows how many other name or great opponents over the past decade and a half or so. That equals the kind of experience that frankly may not be matched by anyone in the contemporary boxing scene.
Yet Scull just may have the kind of style that can give Canelo trouble. He’s a tall, slick southpaw, Scull is, more technician than knockout artist. And Canelo hasn’t always had the best nights against ring tacticians. Lara for one gave the man a real run for his money, and the speedy Amir Khan had legitimately strong moments against Canelo, too. And let’s not forget chess master Floyd Mayweather, who schooled a far younger and inexperienced version of Canelo back in 2013. Then again, that was Mayweather. No one else, with the exception of Dmitry Bivol, has been able to essentially dominate Canelo in such a way…and Canelo fought Bivol at light heavyweight.
Canelo-Scull will be the main event of a pay per view card on Saturday. Don’t expect the event to break any sales records. If Scull shocks the world with an upset win, though, you can rest assured a rematch would bring in quite a few dollars and eyeballs. Is expecting an upset win this weekend wishful thinking? Probably. Once those body shots of Canelo’s start landing, he’s a hard man to stop. Virtually anything can happen in the ring, however, a fact which makes Canelo-Scull worth paying attention to.
