Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez (61-2-2, 39 KOs) deserves all the credit in the world for vacating the IBF super middleweight title and flexing his muscle to the organization that attempted to force a terrible mandatory fight down our throats.
The Mexican superstar was ordered to fight the unheralded William Scull on May 13, but the negotiation period fizzled out after just nine days. After an immediate purse bid hearing was requested on behalf of the unbeaten contender, the only question that remained was whether Alvarez would go through with the fight against his long-overdue mandatory challenger. Alvarez decided he had bigger fish to fry and, with that, officially closed the book on his historic run of four wins as an undisputed champion, the first Mexican boxer ever to complete the feat, and the first undisputed 168-pounder of the four-belt era.
Canelo will move on to explore possible opportunities against WBA mandatory challenger Edgar Berlanga, unbeaten three-division champion Terence Crawford, or WBC mandatory David Benavidez (28-0, 24 KOs), who has yearned to face him for years.
The Timing of This, However, Couldn’t Be More Bizarre
Although much of the boxing public had no idea who William Scull was, he has been Alvarez’s mandatory challenger since 2022 after defeating Russian contender Evgeny Shvedenko (16-1-1, 7 KOs) in a final eliminator. Canelo has not faced a mandatory challenger since February 2021, when he easily knocked out Avni Yildirim at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. It seems odd that the IBF would enforce its mandatory obligation now when so many fans are clamoring for Alvarez to face David Benavidez, among other marquee fights.
Fans seem to misunderstand why people are so upset. The IBF enforcing its rules is not the issue, but how a fighter who has beaten no one of substance was ranked high enough to challenge one of the best in the sport. It raises a lot of questions about how sanctioning bodies ranked fighters. As we mentioned in a previous story, having four sanctioning bodies with four different sets of criteria and rankings is not sustainable.
It would be different if the rankings were somewhat decent and Scull, for instance, beat legitimate contenders, but that hasn’t been the case.
The IBF Promotes Mediocrity
Scull fought on the undercard of the Canelo vs. Jaime Munguia fight on May 4 in Las Vegas. He defeated Sean Hemphill (16-2, 10 KOs) in an eight-round unanimous decision, flooring the New Orleans native in the fifth round en route to the win. Before that fight, he fought 41-year-old journeyman Cristian Fabian Rios (23-19-3, 7 KOs) in a six-round points victory. Going into their fight, Rios had won an outstanding one of his last nine fights. Scull is deserving of a world title shot with this junk? By most standards, even a secondary belt would be a stretch for the kid right now.
Scull (22-0, 9 KOs) will likely face IBF No.2-ranked contender Vladimir Shishkin (16-0, 10 KOs) in a vacant title fight once Alvarez officially informs the sanctioning body of his decision. Shishkin hasn’t done much, either. He’s fought twice in the last 20 months, scoring a pair of KO wins over journeymen Ramon Ayala and Mike Guy.
For context, Ayala (25-10-1, 13 KOs) has lost five bouts in a row, which included a six-year layoff between the first and second defeats. Furthermore, he was also knocked out by Neeco Macias, who fought for the first time in three years. Guy (12-8-1, 5 KOs) hasn’t won a fight in five years. Does Shishkin’s résumé pass the smell test for a world title opportunity? No. It’s garbage. It’s all trash.
But this is nothing new for the IBF, which continues to exemplify how utterly useless they are—from threatening to strip newly-crowned heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk to now shoving this rubbish down our throats; they are utter slime. This parasitic organization has no business in boxing. Well, that’s not true. We are plagued with leeches, so they likely fit right in. On the other hand, that doesn’t mean we should turn a blind eye and not call out the people responsible for turning this beautiful sport into a charade. I’m talking to you, Daryl Peoples (President /CEO at IBF).
Remember, this organization stripped Tyson Fury for honoring his rematch clause with Wladimir Klitschko instead of fighting mandatory challenger Vyacheslav Glazkov. Although the Klitschko rematch never happened due to Fury’s much-publicized struggle with drug and alcohol abuse, a Klitschko fight indeed sounded more appetizing than one with Glazkov.
The IBF ended up making a vacant title fight between Glazkov and Charles Martin. It wound up being a complete embarrassment as Glazkov tore his right ACL, which ended his career and handed Martin his first world title in a third-round TKO. Martin held the title for under three months as Anthony Joshua blew him out in his first defense. A few more examples of IBF mandatory bouts gone awry include Gennadiy Golovkin vs. Dominic Wade and Errol Spence Jr. vs. Carlos Ocampo, which ended in second and first-round knockouts, respectively.
We Can Do Better
Some boxing fans have gone as far as to praise the IBF for “enforcing its rules.” They are either Canelo haters, misinformed, or just completely insane. Take your pick. Either tree is poisonous.
Let’s take it a step further. Follow your rules and guidelines, but the boxing public demands legitimate rankings. That’s only fair. Anyone with a brain can tell you that going the distance with a grandpa who’s 1-9 in his last ten bouts should not be the mandatory challenger to anything. Again, thank you and respect to Canelo for refusing to entertain this filth.
No longer undisputed? Who cares? Everyone knows that Canelo is the true super middleweight champion, regardless of what the International Buffoonery Federation thinks.
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