Canelo Alvarez has been to the rodeo 66 times throughout his career, and only Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Dmitry Bivol have been able to rope the bull that is the current face of boxing.
Looking to buck the trend against the Mexican superstar is William Scull (23-0, 9 KOs), the latest fighter champing at the bit after landing a lottery ticket to face sport’s biggest breadwinner in Alvarez (62-2-2, 39 KOs).
The bout will take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on May 4 at 6 a.m. local time. For Alvarez's fans in North America,
ring walks will take place during the traditional time of 11 p.m. EST / 8 p.m. PST.
The undisputed super middleweight title will be on the line as Alvarez brings his Ring, WBA, WBC, and WBO titles to the table while Scull adds the IBF belt to the equation. It’s a title he owns only because Alvarez vacated it last year to instead face Edgar Berlanga. Scull barely beat Vladimir Shishkin for the belt, and now he believes he can shock the world by besting Alvarez.
“Everybody feels confident about [beating me] until they get into the ring, right?” Alvarez told TMZ. “It's different when they get into the ring. That's the situation. He's a good fighter with a Cuban style. It's going to be a complicated fight, especially in the first rounds. But you know, I fought everybody out there, every style, and I can adapt myself to anything … I'm ready already. I'm just waiting.”
If Scull isn’t enough to excite Alvarez, fighting outside of Mexico and the United States for the first time in his career and the big fights that can follow sure is.
Alvarez signed a four-fight deal with Riyadh Season earlier this year, and if he’s successful against Scull, the plan is to face Terence Crawford in September.
“It's going to be fun for me because it's going to be something different in my career,” Alvarez said regarding fighting in Saudi Arabia. “At this point of my career, these are the kinds of things that motivate me more, fighting in other countries and other experiences. That's amazing for my career right now.”
Manouk Akopyan is a lead writer for The Ring. He can be reached on X and Instagram @ManoukAkopyan.