Canelo Alvarez Ordered By IBF To Next Face Mandatory Challenger William Scull

Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez has been ordered to face an unbeaten mandatory challenger.

No, not that one.

The clock for Guadalajara’s Alvarez to next face William Scull, a Germany-based Cuban and IBF mandatory challenger for nearly two years. A negotiation period has been assigned for the two sides to reach an agreement and avoid a purse bid hearing.

AGON Sports & Events, Scull’s Germany-based promoter, confirmed the development early Tuesday morning.

The IBF has ordered the fight between Canelo and William Scull. Both teams have 4 weeks to reach an agreement or it will go to purse bid.#CaneloScull pic.twitter.com/MmUtH9oYCQ

— AGON Sports & Events (@agon_boxing) May 14, 2024

Alvarez (60-2-2, 39 knockouts) is The Ring champion at 168, and also holds all four major sanctioning body titles. He has made seven overall successful Ring championship defenses since his Dec. 2020 win over Callum Smith. Four have come with every major title at stake since his Nov. 2021 eleventh-round knockout of then-unbeaten IBF titlist Caleb Plant to fully unify the division.

Scull (22-0, 9 KOs) became the mandatory challenger after a July 2022 points win over Evgeny Shvedenko. The title eliminator between unbeaten contenders saw Scull—a Cuban export based in Berlin—win a lopsided unanimous decision.

Just three fights have followed for the 31-year-old. The most recent came in an eight-round victory over Sean Hemphill on May 4 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The fight took place on the non-televised undercard portion of Alvarez’s victory over countryman Jaime Munguia.

In the house that same evening was Brooklyn’s Edgar Berlanga, The Ring’s No. 10 super middleweight contender. It was expected that Berlanga (22-0, 17 KOs) would next get the call as the WBA mandatory challenger.

Berlanga was on the short list of opponents to face Alvarez in May. His name was in the running along with Munguia, who ultimately won the sweepstakes.

It was widely believed that Alvarez would move on to face Berlanga in September, given the sanctioning body rotation order.

Alvarez was the WBA ‘Regular’ titlist when he dethroned Liverpool’s Smith for the full crown and vacant WBC belt.

Just two mandatory title challenges have been honored during his reign. Alvarez stopped WBC No. 1 contender Avni Yildirim in the third round of their Feb. 2021 championship clash in Miami. More than two years later, Alvarez returned home for a WBO mandatory versus England’s John Ryder whom he outpointed last May.

Unified titlists are afforded more leeway between ordered title defenses. Sanctioning bodies normally abide by an agreed-upon rotation system, though that part needs to be worked out in advance.

Alvarez has yet to defend versus an IBF-appointed challenger. Plant satisfied the last mandatory for that title when he outpointed Caleb Truax in their Jan. 2021 meeting.

Berlanga was only recently named WBA mandatory. The call came roughly two months after his sixth-round knockout of unbeaten Padraig McCrory on Feb. 24 in Orlando, Florida. At the time, the fight was to determine the next ordered challenger for WBA ‘Regular’ titlist David Morrell.

That decision changed immediately after Morrell, No. 4 at 168, confirmed his next bout. The unbeaten Cuban will next face Radivoje Kalajdzic for the interim WBA 175-pound title on August 3 in Los Angeles.

Alvarez could very well still fight the next opponent of his choosing, He would run the risk of breaking up his undisputed reign under the most extreme measure.

IBF rule 5.c requires its champions to honor ordered mandatory title fights. Failure to honor the order “will be sufficient cause to have the Championships Committee and Board of Directors consider withdrawing recognition of the title.”

This is familiar territory for Alvarez, whose last experience with an IBF mandatory changed the course of his career.

An ordered middleweight title defense versus Sergiy Derevyanchenko ended with Alvarez being stripped of the belt in 2019. The handling of the matter soured the decade-long relationship between Alvarez and Golden Boy Promotions; the two split in 2020.

Alvarez defeated Daniel Jacobs in their May 2019 RING, WBC, WBA and IBF unification bout. An order immediately followed to next defend versus Derevyanchenko. The matter extended deep into that summer the IBF declared the title vacant.

Such drastic measures are not expected with this ordered bout. While neither party can entertain any other fight during the negotiation period, the two sides only have to reach an agreement. Sanctioning bodies have previously permitted a voluntary defense if both fighters are amenable to the terms.

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for The Ring and vice president of the Boxing Writers Association of America.

Follow @JakeNDaBox

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