Chris Mannix could breathe a sigh of relief when he saw William Scull wearing a baseball cap when he stepped on the scale.
This was a clear sign that the Scullduggery movement would progress without interruption. The undefeated Cuban and fellow undefeated contender Vladimir Shishkin both weighed in at 167 ½ pounds prior to their vacant title fight.
Their scheduled twelve-round bout will be broadcast live on DAZN from Stadthalle in Falkansee, Germany. The broadcast of four fights will begin at 3:00 PM ET.
Scull (22-0, 9 KOs)—a Berlin-based Cuban export—has weaved in and out of the No. 10 spot in The Ring’s super middleweight rankings. He became the mandatory challenger after a points victory in July 2022 over Evgeny Shvedenko. The title eliminator between undefeated contenders saw Scull win a lopsided unanimous decision.
Just three fights followed for the 31-year-old. The most recent was in an eight-round victory over Sean Hemphill on May 4 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The fight took place on the non-televised undercard portion of Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez’s victory over Jaime Munguia.
At the time, Alvarez was defending his RING and Undisputed Championship. His reign has since been shattered after he failed to fulfill his IBF mandatory obligation. The sanctioning body ordered and sent Alvarez-Scull to a purse hearing nine days after the legendary Mexican’s win over Munguia.
The session was postponed and then canceled altogether when the IBF was informed that an agreement had been reached. There was no evidence of that when Alvarez announced his next fight against then-undefeated WBA mandatory Edgar Berlanga.
Appropriate action was taken as Alvarez was relieved of the IBF belt which is now up for grabs on Saturday.
Shishkin (16-0, 10 KOs), No. 6 on 168 by The Ringwas next in line as the IBF no. 2 contender. He earned that spot after a December 2022 victory over former titleholder Jose Uzcategui in a title eliminator.
The undefeated Russian contender in the US was more than willing to enter into talks with Scull for his first career title fight. However, their promoters—Salita Promotions (Shishkin) and AGON Sports (Scull) were initially unable to reach an agreement. The fight had to be tried for a purse before the two sides found common ground at the eleventh hour.
DAZN recently announced that it will pick up streaming rights in North America and the UK to air the show this weekend. It’s another nod to Mannix—senior writer for Sports Illustrated, aerial boxing analyst for DAZN and the sport’s foremost Scull aficionado.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for The Ring.
