Canelo Alvarez has been the top super middleweight since late 2020 and became undisputed champion in 2021.
While boxing’s biggest star is never short of challengers, he can only fight so many of them and that includes his commitments. In August, the IBF decided their enforcer William Scull had waited long enough and stripped Canelo of their title.
On Saturday, Scull will face Vladimir Shishkin for the vacant IBF title at the Stadthalle, Falkensee, near Berlin, Germany.
“It’s a dream come true to be able to fight Vladimir Shishkin on October 19 for the world title after so many years of waiting,” Scull (22-0, 9 knockouts) told The Ring. “It means a lot to me because it has been my dream since childhood and I am very happy to be able to participate in this championship thanks to the support of my family, who are involved in all this, my trainer Franquis Aldama, my fitness trainer Raul Moggiano and my promoter Agon Sport (Ingo Volckmann).
The Cuban-born fighter amassed more than 300 amateur fights before defecting to Argentina in 2016.
His first nine fights took place there before it became clear he had the talent to make an impact on the world stage and struck a deal to head to Germany in 2019.
It gave his career more focus and he became IBF mandatory since besting Evgeny Shvedenko in July 2022. Since then, he patiently waited for the call that finally never came.
“It was a difficult time in my career because I didn’t know what was going to happen,” he said of waiting for his world title shot. “Actually, I was looking forward to facing the super champion Canelo Alvarez, but I was always focused and knew something good was going to happen.”
The 32-year-old hopes to use his amateur and professional experience to beat Shishkin.
“From what I’ve seen so far, he’s a strong boxer, but I’m ready to beat anything Shishkin brings,” he explained. “I am a fighter who can do all three distances and I have prepared well, I have all the skills to beat him.”
For much of his career, Scull has been in the shadow of two of his illustrious compatriots, David Morrell and more recently Osleys Iglesias. He doesn’t see it as a problem and actually sees it as a positive.
“This is something very important for Cuban boxing, I am motivated by the success of my countrymen,” he said. “Viva Cuba! They will have the next IBF world champion on the 19th.”
Shishkin, rated No. 6 by The Ring at super middleweightturned professional in 2016. He managed to show his class by stopping Nadjib Mohammedi (TKO 10), DeAndre Ware (TKO 8) and undefeated Ulises Sierra (UD 10).
The 33-year-old Russian also dominated Sena Agbeko (UD 10) on ShoBox and outpointed former IBF titlist Jose Uzcategui (UD 12). Since then, he’s spent time treading water and punching a few fellow travelers.
I’d prefer Scull fighting at home to improve matters by 12-round unanimous decision, but expect Shishkin to have his moments.
Questions and/or comments can be sent to Anson at (email protected).
