Canelo Alvarez Beats William Scull By UD to Win Undisputed Super Middleweight Title

Canelo Álvarez defeated William Scull by unanimous decision after 12 rounds Saturday at ANB Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, retaining his undisputed unified super middleweight titles.

Álvarez got off to a slow start, spending much of the early rounds in a defensive stance as Scull launched several heavy shots that failed to connect cleanly or cause any real damage.

By Round 6, the fight remained close and difficult to score, with Álvarez edging ahead 58-56 thanks to a few sharp exchanges, per ESPN's Brett Okomato. As the bout entered the later rounds, the referee urged both fighters to be more aggressive, prompting Álvarez to respond with a series of body shots in Round 9, though none seemed to significantly alter Scull's methods.

By the end of the fight, Álvarez appeared visibly frustrated with having to chase Scull around the ring, while the crowd grew restless with the slow-paced bout as it headed to the scorecards.

Álvarez landed 56 of his 152 punches, edging Scull’s 55 landed on 293 thrown. Álvarez controlled the body attack, while Scull found more success targeting the head.

Álvarez entered the match putting his WBA (Super), WBC, WBO, and The Ring super middleweight titles on the line.

The 34-year-old was 62-2-2 lifetime, with his only defeats coming against undefeated Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2013 and Dmitry Bivol in 2022, when he moved up to the super light heavyweight class to challenge for the WBA title.

He entered the evening with five straight victories after the loss to Bivol. All the matches were wins via unanimous decision.

Scull, meanwhile, put up his UBF super middleweight title. The 32-year-old won the vacant belt after beating Vladimir Shishkin via unanimous decision last October. Nine of his 23 fights have ended via knockout.

Scull is an accomplished fighter, but Álvarez is a boxing legend. So it was understandable that, per DraftKings, he was a massive -3500 favorite to win going into the night.

In the end, the chalk held, and Álvarez earned the victory. Now he looks ahead to a superfight with Terence Crawford in September.