Canelo Alvarez cruises, locks up Sept. 12 clash with Crawford

Canelo Alvarez’s tremendous middleweight title combat towards William Scull felt like one thing of a formality going into Saturday. And a formality is precisely the way it performed out.

Alvarez (63-2-2, 39 KOs) turned the undisputed 168-pound champion for the second time in his profession, as he defeated Scull (23-1, 9 KOs) through resolution in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. With the victory, Alvarez regained the IBF title that was stripped of him final 12 months after he declined to face Scull.

Saturday’s win arrange a extremely anticipated matchup between Alvarez and Terence Crawford on Sept. 12 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. Crawford was in attendance Saturday and instantly entered the ring to do a faceoff with Alvarez.

The top end result was what the game of boxing anticipated — and needed — however it took a painful 12-round bout Saturday to make it official. Scull, a 32-year-old from Cuba, spent many of the championship bout dancing across the perimeter, throwing half-hearted jabs with little weight behind them. Alvarez pursued Scull from bell to bell, however refused to aggressively open up greater than needed.

It become a very simple combat to attain in Alvarez’s favor, however a tough one to look at. Alvarez gained through scores of 119-109, 116-112 and 115-113.

“I don’t like to fight those kinds of guys,” Alvarez mentioned. “They came to just survive to the final round. That’s why I don’t like to fight them. It won’t be that kind of fight [against Crawford]. I hate that kind of fight. He moved even more than we thought. But it’s OK. We won. We’re here.”

In contrast, Alvarez mentioned will probably be his “pleasure” to sq. off towards an motion fighter like Crawford.

“I feel great. Crawford is one of the best out there, and, you know, I like to share the ring with that kind of fighter,” Alvarez mentioned. “It’s my pleasure.”

Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) supplied little evaluation of Alvarez’s efficiency, solely saying, “He did what he had to do to get the job done, for what was in front of him.”

Alvarez and Scull each acquired warnings for inactivity, however that did not cease it from being a traditionally sluggish affair. The 2 mixed for 445 punches thrown, in response to CompuBox. That’s the fewest variety of mixed punches thrown in a 12-round combat in CompuBox’s 40-year historical past. They every landed an virtually incomprehensibly low common of 5 punches per spherical.

Nonetheless, Alvarez’s offense clearly surpassed Scull’s, as he focused Scull’s physique with energy punches. It prolonged Alvarez’s profitable streak to 6, all of which have gone the gap. He has not scored a knockout since an Eleventh-round end of Caleb Plant in November 2021. Scull, who went into Saturday because the IBF champion, suffered the primary defeat of his profession.