Canelo on why he's fighting Scull and how he made deal with Alalshikh
Superstar looks to become two-time undisputed super middleweight champion and set up September mega fight vs. Crawford
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Unified super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez, long boxing’s biggest star and one of the best fighters in the world, has spent his entire 20-year career boxing in either the United States or his home country of Mexico.
But that will change when he squares off with IBF titlist William Scull in a four-belt unification fight in an attempt to become a two-time undisputed 168-pound champion in the main event of a Riyadh Season card on Saturday (DAZN PPV, 5:45 p.m. ET, $59.99) at ANB Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where it will be Sunday morning.
“I always say that for me, fighting in other countries was a dream,” Alvarez told Fight Freaks Unite. “In my career I accomplish everything already. So this kind of thing motivates myself and because fighting in another country is something new for me, it’s another experience for me and I'm very excited.”
Alvarez not only is fighting outside of North America for the first time but doing so on Cinco de Mayo weekend, when he typically would fight in Las Vegas in front of an adoring Mexican crowd there for the festivities and a big fight.
With most of his fans obviously not making the trip halfway across the world this weekend, Alvarez conceded disappointment about that but also said he wanted the experience of fighting in another country, which was too great to pass up as the first bout of a four-fight deal with Turki Alalshikh, the head of Riyadh Season and chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority.
At least, as Alvarez said, his fight will take place at the same time his fans are used to seeing him fight — around 11 p.m. ET — because, by design, he will enter the ring around 6 a.m. Riyadh time.