Boxing-Alvarez outpoints Scull to reclaim undisputed super middleweight championship
Boxing - Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez vs William Scull - Undisputed Super Middleweight Championship - ANB Arena, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia - May 3, 2025 Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez interacts with William Scull after winning his super middleweight fight REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed
Boxing - Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez vs William Scull - Undisputed Super Middleweight Championship - ANB Arena, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia - May 3, 2025 Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez in action during his super middleweight fight against William Scull REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed
Boxing - Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez vs William Scull - Undisputed Super Middleweight Championship - ANB Arena, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia - May 3, 2025 William Scull in action during his super middleweight fight against Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed
Boxing - Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez vs William Scull - Undisputed Super Middleweight Championship - ANB Arena, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia - May 3, 2025 Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez in action during his super middleweight fight against William Scull REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed
RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA - Saul "Canelo" Alvarez re-unified the IBF super middleweight championship with his WBA (Super), WBC and WBO belts with a unanimous decision victory over William Scull on Sunday, setting up a bout with former welterweight champion Terence Crawford in September.
Cuba's Scull, who had an advantage in height and reach over Alvarez, was unable to find an answer to the Mexican's methodical stalking and effective body blows as he suffered the first loss of his professional boxing career.
"For me it's a boring fight. (Scull was) not trying to win, just trying to survive. I hate these kinds of fights," Alvarez said in his post-fight interview after all three judges awarded him the victory (115-113, 116-112, 119-109).
Alvarez, who was stripped of the IBF strap last year after choosing to fight Edgar Berlanga over the sanctioning body's number one contender Scull, has now become the undisputed 168-pound champion for the second time.
Scull's quick movements were not enough to evade Alvarez's steady onslaught early on as the Mexican landed strong body blows in the second and fourth rounds, leaving Scull momentarily off balance.
Alvarez, fighting outside the United States and Mexico for the first time, continued stalking the Cuban in the fifth round, but Scull fought back, breaking Alvarez's guard with a right uppercut and pushing him back before catching him with a counter.
"Don't let this guy get bigger and more confident," Alvarez's corner warned him at the end of the sixth round after Scull caught him with another right hand before Alvarez responded with body shots.
Alvarez landed combinations to the body in the seventh round, and caught Scull with a lead left hook near the ropes in the eighth.
Measured attacks to the body continued from Alvarez, as he landed 40 body blows in the bout while Scull managed only six, claiming the 63rd win of his professional career.
Alvarez, 34, said he was looking forward to returning to the ring against undefeated Crawford.
"Crawford is one of the best out there, I like to share the ring with that kind of a fighter. It's my pleasure," he said.
American Crawford, who became the undisputed welterweight champion with a knockout win over Errol Spence Jr. in 2023, said he was ready to take on Alvarez as they faced off in the ring.
"In September I'll show the world what greatness looks like," Crawford said. REUTERS
Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Straits Times
3 hours ago
- Straits Times
Vos surges to opening stage win in Tour de France Femmes
Find out what's new on ST website and app. FILE PHOTO: Paris 2024 Olympics - Road Cycling - Women's Road Race - Paris, France - August 04, 2024. Marianne Vos of Netherlands after crossing the line to win silver REUTERS/Benoit Tessier/File Photo Dutch rider Marianne Vos claimed a jaw-dropping 258th career victory when she prevailed in the first stage of the Tour de France Femmes, a 78.8-km hilly ride from Vannes to Plumelec on Saturday. The three-time road world champion, 38, prevailed at the top of the Cote de Cadoudal (1.7km at 6.2%) after her Visma-Lease a Bike teammate Pauline Ferrand Prevot cracked in the final metres to finish third behind Kim Le Court of Mauritius. While Ferrand Prevot could not convert, she showed impressive strength when she attacked 700 metres from the line, a move that underlined the mountain biking Olympic champion's title credentials. Vos, who will wear the yellow jersey in Sunday's second stage, surged past in the final 50 metres and raised her arm in celebration, just like Ferrand-Prevot. After a dozen riders were involved in a crash as the peloton rolled towards the start of the stage, Maud Rijnbeek and Laura Tomasi formed the day's breakaway. Rijnbeek went solo after 23 kilometres before Tomasi was swallowed by the peloton. Swiss rider Marlen Reusser was involved in another crash at the foot of the Cote de Cadoudal, a 1.7-km ascent at 6.2%. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore Woman taken to hospital after car falls into sinkhole on Tanjong Katong Road Singapore Students hide vapes in underwear, toilet roll holders: S'pore schools grapple with vaping scourge Singapore 'I've tried everything': Mum helpless as son's Kpod addiction spirals out of control Singapore NDP 2025: How Benjamin Kheng is whisked from Marina Bay to Padang in 10 minutes by boat, buggy Singapore Almost half of planned 30,000 HDB flats in Tengah to be completed by end-2025: Chee Hong Tat Singapore From libraries to living rooms: How reading habits take root in underserved S'pore children Asia Thai-Cambodia clashes spread along frontier as death toll rises Asia Thousands rally in downtown Kuala Lumpur for resignation of PM Anwar Reusser, who finished second in the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta, later abandoned with stomach problems, her Movistar team said. Defending champion Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney, who beat Demi Vollering by just four seconds last year, finished fourth in the same time as the winner. Vollering was fifth, three seconds behind. REUTERS
Straits Times
6 hours ago
- Straits Times
Norris takes Spa pole on all-McLaren front row
Formula One F1 - Belgian Grand Prix - Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot, Belgium - July 26, 2025 Red Bull's Max Verstappen poses with a trophy after winning the sprint race alongside second place McLaren's Oscar Piastri and third place McLaren's Lando Norris REUTERS/Yves Herman SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium - McLaren's Lando Norris edged out his championship-leading teammate and title rival Oscar Piastri for pole position at the Belgian Grand Prix on Saturday. The Briton blasted around the long and flowing Spa-Francorchamps circuit in a best time of one minute 40.562 seconds, with Piastri a mere 0.085 slower, to secure his fourth pole in 13 races and 13th of his career. Norris will be chasing his third win in a row, in what looks like being a wet race on Sunday despite Saturday's sunshine, to cut the Australian's nine-point lead. Ferrari's Charles Leclerc will start third and Red Bull's reigning champion Max Verstappen, winner of the 100 km sprint, qualified fourth for his team's first grand prix under the leadership of Laurent Mekies after Christian Horner was sacked. "The car has been flying all weekend, Oscar's been doing a good job all weekend so we're pushing each other a lot," said Norris, who was third in the sprint with Piastri second. "It's tough because you kind of see where your strengths and weaknesses are. And you learn from each other quickly. It's a good but tough battle that we have at the minute." Norris had been fastest in the opening phase of qualifying, with Piastri a close second, and the positions were reversed in the second segment before the top-10 shootout and the Briton coming out on top. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore Woman taken to hospital after car falls into sinkhole on Tanjong Katong Road Singapore Students hide vapes in underwear, toilet roll holders: S'pore schools grapple with vaping scourge Singapore 'I've tried everything': Mum helpless as son's Kpod addiction spirals out of control Singapore NDP 2025: How Benjamin Kheng is whisked from Marina Bay to Padang in 10 minutes by boat, buggy Singapore Almost half of planned 30,000 HDB flats in Tengah to be completed by end-2025: Chee Hong Tat Singapore From libraries to living rooms: How reading habits take root in underserved S'pore children Asia Thai-Cambodia clashes spread along frontier as death toll rises Asia Thousands rally in downtown Kuala Lumpur for resignation of PM Anwar "I felt like the car was very good again, but it's fine margins out there. It's obviously not a bad place to be starting but there was more in it, which is always disappointing," Piastri said. "After the sprint, I was aiming for P2," he said, referring to Verstappen winning from that position. Behind the top four, Alex Albon qualified fifth for Williams with George Russell sixth for Mercedes and ahead of Red Bull's Yuki Tsunoda. Racing Bulls had Isack Hadjar and Liam Lawson eighth and ninth with Sauber's Brazilian rookie Gabriel Bortoleto completing the top 10. Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton, last year's winner with Mercedes, failed to get through the first phase after his best lap was deleted for exceeding track limits. The seven-times world champion, who has yet to stand on the podium since his move to Ferrari at the end of last season, will start 16th. REUTERS
Straits Times
6 hours ago
- Straits Times
Groves avoids crash to win Tour Stage 20, Pogacar retains lead
Find out what's new on ST website and app. PONTARLIER, France - Australian Kaden Groves completed his set of grand tour stage wins when he prevailed on the Tour de France's penultimate ride, avoiding a crash on slippery roads before powering to a solo triumph on the 184.2km journey from Nantua on Saturday. Groves's bike-handling skills were on display when he managed to stay up as Spain's Ivan Romeo and France's Romain Gregoire skidded out of control in front of him on a wet descent 21 kilometres from the finish. The Alpecin-Deceuninck rider then attacked from a reduced breakaway bunch and never looked back in the remaining 17 kilometres, bursting into tears in a mix of disbelief and exhaustion after the line. Groves, who gave his team their third victory in this year's Tour after Jasper Philipsen and Mathieu van der Poel also won, has seven Vuelta and two Giro d'Italia stage wins to his name. Dutchman Frank van den Broek took second place, 54 seconds behind, with his compatriot Pascal Eenkhoorn third, five seconds further back. Defending champion Tadej Pogacar spent a quiet day in the main peloton and made another step towards a fourth Tour title as he retained his overall leader's yellow jersey with a 4:24 advantage over Denmark's Jonas Vingegaard. The final stage is a 132.3km ride from Mantes-la-Jolie to Paris, where the peloton will cycle up the famous Butte Montmartre three times before the final laps on the Champs-Elysees. REUTERS Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore Woman taken to hospital after car falls into sinkhole on Tanjong Katong Road Singapore Students hide vapes in underwear, toilet roll holders: S'pore schools grapple with vaping scourge Singapore 'I've tried everything': Mum helpless as son's Kpod addiction spirals out of control Singapore NDP 2025: How Benjamin Kheng is whisked from Marina Bay to Padang in 10 minutes by boat, buggy Singapore Almost half of planned 30,000 HDB flats in Tengah to be completed by end-2025: Chee Hong Tat Singapore From libraries to living rooms: How reading habits take root in underserved S'pore children Asia Thai-Cambodia clashes spread along frontier as death toll rises Asia Thousands rally in downtown Kuala Lumpur for resignation of PM Anwar
