Canelo Alvarez beats William Scull to win super-middleweight boxing title

Our coverage is ending now. Thanks for joining us as Saul “Canelo” Alvarez became the undisputed super-middleweight champion for the second time.

Al Jazeera will be back later today with more live sporting action, including coverage of Real Madrid vs Celta Vigo in La Liga.

But for now, it’s goodbye from Patrick Keddie and Kevin Hand.

• Undisputed super-middleweight title: Saul “Canelo” Alvarez beat William Scull via unanimous decision (115-113, 116-112, 119-109)
• WBC cruiserweight title: Badou Jack beat Noel Mikaelyan via majority decision (114-114, 115-113, 115-113)
• Super-middleweight: Jaime Munguia beat Bruno Surace via unanimous decision (116-112, 117-111, 117-111)
• Heavyweight: Martin Bakole vs Efe Ajagba drew by majority decision (94-96, 95-95, 95-95)
• Light-heavyweight: Brayan Leon beat Aaron Rocha Guerrero via points (60-54)
• Heavyweight: Richard Riakporhe beat Kevin Nicolas Espindola via fourth-round RTD
• Middleweight: Marco Verde beat Michel Galvan Polina via first-round TKO
• Super featherweight: Mohammed Alakel beat Alexander Morales via points (60-54)

Daniel Jacobs, a former middleweight champ who lost to Alvarez on points in a competitive fight in 2019, criticised Alvarez for failing to fully dominate Scull.

“We need to hold Canelo Alvarez for being the fighter that he is and not being able to take control, to some degree. He let this guy run, he didn’t cut the ring off, he allowed this guy to make it a snoozer,” he said.

“This is [Scull’s] style – we can’t take anything away from him; this is how he’s gotten to this point. Canelo Alvarez, in my opinion, did an OK job, but he could have done a masterful performance given the criteria.”

Sergio Mora, a former WBC light middleweight champion, told DAZN that it was a terrible clash of styles.

“That wasn’t fighting, that was frustrating. That was not hit and get hit or not get hit, it was just a bad style match-up,” he said.

“That style – I just do not want to see it again.”

There’s no danger of seeing that particular bout replayed, I think.

Canelo Alvarez vs Terence Crawford FIRST FACE-OFF ‼️ pic.twitter.com/ESllrSn3w6

— Ring Magazine (@ringmagazine) May 4, 2025

🚨 FIGHT ANNOUNCED 🚨

🥊 CANELO ALVAREZ VS TERENCE CRAWFORD

👑 Ring, WBA, WBC, IBF & WBO
⚖️ Super-Middleweight
📆 September 12th
📍 Las Vegas, USA 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/PPuZ1YaaUQ

— Ring Magazine (@ringmagazine) May 4, 2025

Crawford gets to talk as Alvarez leaves the ring. He says he’s feeling “great and blessed”.

“In September, I’m going to show the world what greatness looks like,” he says.

Crawford says Alvarez “did what he had to do to get the job done with what was put in front of him”, against Scull.

Crawford is standing in the ring politely, head down, and Alvarez says he’s looking forward to fighting him.

“He’s a great fighter and I look forward to sharing the ring with these kinds of fighters,” he said.

He said everyone is asking for the fight.

Alvarez says he knew Scull would move a lot, but not that much.

“But it’s OK, we won. I am two-times undisputed champion and I’m grateful to fight in Saudi Arabia, and thank you, everyone, for coming [to watch] me, my family, my friends, everybody,” he said.

“Like I always say, viva Mexico cabrones!”

Alvarez says he came to Saudi Arabia three weeks ago, so his body was ready for the 6am start time.

“I’m a champion, I’m a professional, so that’s no excuse.”

Well, Alvarez doesn’t pull any punches in the post-match interview at least.

“That’s why I don’t like to fight those kinds of guys, they just come to survive. September [against Crawford] will be another kind of fight,” he said.

“For me, [Scull] was a boring fight… I hate those kinds of fights.”

Saudi boxing supremo Turki Alalshikh is in the ring. He invites Terrence Crawford to join them for a face-off.

Alalshikh says they will fight each other in Las Vegas on September 12, “inshallah”, for the undisputed super-middle weight title.

At least that should be a fantastic match-up!

Canelo Alvarez takes it 115-113, 116-112, 119-109.

Alvarez strolls to a sleepy victory in the early morning here in Riyadh.

Perhaps a little surprising that a couple of the judges gave Scull so many rounds.

Not much to say about this fight – Scull danced around and threw some ineffective shots, and Alvarez landed quite a few solid body shots on his way to victory.

It’s the final round – can someone shake up this bout?

Alvarez lands a left hook as Scull stops moving for a moment.

As Alvarez lands a straight right to the body, Scull gurns and grins, suggesting he didn’t feel it.

Scull throws a rare combination, but it doesn’t penetrate Alvarez’s fortress-like defences.

Into the last minute, Alvarez tries to force his way closer to Scull and hits him with a glancing left hook.

As the bell goes to end this snooze-fest, Alvarez scolds a grinning Scull for refusing to fight.

Scull skitters out of range of some looping Alvarez hooks. As this rather punch-shy fight continues, the onus on Alvarez to step it up and end it grows.

Alvarez digs in a shovel hook to Scull’s stomach, and the Cuban looks to fire back, but his punches are ineffective.

To be fair to Scull, his constant movement is making it hard for Alvarez to land anything too devastating. But if you aren’t engaging properly, you can’t win rounds.

The pattern continues – scull dances, Alvarez walks him down. Scull takes pot shots, Alvarez scores with body shots.

Alvarez steps in a couple of times with a lead left hook to the body, racking up his score.

The bell goes with Alvarez giving a rueful shake of the head, either at Scull’s unwillingness to fight or frustration with his own inability to end this dance.

Terrence Crawford, a possible future opponent for Alvarez, looks distinctly unimpressed as he watches on from the crowd.

The referee tells both fighters to step it up before the ninth round starts. It would be much appreciated.

Scull misses with a big right, then Alvarez lands another clean body shot that will score, even if it doesn’t overly hurt the Cuban.

The crowd urges Alvarez on as he throws a combination, ending with a whipping left hook to the ribs. Scull complains to the ref about a low blow but it was perfectly legal.

Appealing to the ref instead of throwing punches is not a good look in boxing.

Scull smiles as he sits on his stool after the last round. He shouldn’t be – he may have lost every round, as Alvarez lands power shot after power shot to the body.

At last, Scull lands an uppercut as Alvarez sinks in another body shot.

Scull throws off the ropes, but the punches are not landing cleanly.

Long stretches pass where neither man throws anything.

Scull is just not prepared to use his jab to set up anything, he’s just using it to snipe at Alvarez now and again.

We’re in the second half of the fight, and it’s been horribly one-sided in favour of Alvarez.

Alvarez lands a couple of thudding body shots, then looks for another as Scull tries to tie him in a clinch.

The Mexican tries to cut the ring off, increasingly throwing combinations.

Scull continues his potshot approach that is not having dividends. He looks happy enough just to not be getting hurt in there.

Alvarez is probably five rounds up. He looks very comfortable, and his body shots are slowly telling.

Scull lands a good right over the top, and that gets Alvarez’s attention.

But Alvarez returns to his body shots, although Scull looks to land his own. Both fighters throw a bit more, but then Scull reverts to his cautious style as Alvarez continues to stalk him.

Alvarez’s corner tells their man he’s going to stop Scull. It’s only a matter of time before we see Alvarez explode.

Scull doubles up with the jab and then lands a right upper cut off a jab, but Alvarez is untroubled.

Alvarez is throwing very little, trying to land judiciously. Out of nowhere, he explodes with a three-punch combination, looking to end with a long left hook.

Then he lands a strong right to the body, sitting down as he threw the punch.

Scull is still spending too much time skipping around the ropes and throwing the odd, unscoring jab.