Notebook: Canelo undecided about IBF belt as purse bid looms
Title Sports Network: '5 vs. 5' thoughts; Opetaia wants Bivol; Matchroom announces Ennis-Crowley undercard; WBO orders Buatsi-Hutchinson; Quick hits; Show and tell
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Canelo Alvarez is still the undisputed super middleweight champion but for how long remains to be seen.
Alvarez has been ordered to next make his IBF mandatory defense against the utterly obscure and unaccomplished William Scull as it is the IBF’s turn in the rotation system used to determine the order of mandatory challengers for unified champions.
They were recently given 30 days to make a deal before a purse bid would be scheduled but the Scull team asked for an immediate purse bid, which is its right under the IBF rules, and it is set for Thursday at 12 p.m. ET at the IBF offices in Springfield, New Jersey, and via video conference).
The sides could make a deal up to 15 minutes before bids are unsealed but few think the fight will take place — or even that the purse bid will take place — and that Alvarez will vacate because a fight with Skull has no public demand, little economic value and does not help Alvarez reach any particular goal.
However, contrary to rumors and reports that Alvarez will vacate the title, he said he has not decided what he plans to do.
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Alvarez (61-2-2, 39 KOs), 33, of Mexico, who is on vacation in Italy, told Fight Freaks Unite on Monday, “No decision yet.”
Scull (22-0, 9 KOs), 31, a Cuba native fighting out of Germany, won an eight-round decision over Sean Hemphill, 79-72, 78-73 and 76-75 after making a deal to be on the undercard of Alvarez’s decision win over Jaime Munguia on May 4 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Scull has been the IBF mandatory since a decision over Evgeny Shvedenko in a final eliminator in July 2022.
Since becoming the 168-pound division’s first (and only) four-belt champion when he fully unified the division with an 11th-round knockout of Caleb Plant in November 2021, Alvarez has defended the undisputed crown four times.
Those four defenses of the undisputed title are more than any other four-belt champion, because it is so difficult to keep the titles intact.
Title Sports Network
In my latest for Title Sports Network, I gave my fight-by-fight fight breakdown of the excellent “5 vs. 5” card that took place on Saturday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and resulted in Queensberry Promotions beating Matchroom Boxing in all five fights on the card that included heavyweight Zhilei Zhang TKO5 Deontay Wilder in the main event as well as Daniel Dubois TKO8 Filip Hrgovic for the vacant IBF interim heavyweight title; Hamzah Sheeraz TKO11 Austin Williams in a WBC middleweight final eliminator; Nick Ball W12 Raymond Ford to win the WBA featherweight title; light heavyweight Willy Hutchinson W12 Craig Richards; and in the one non “5 vs. 5” bout, Dmitry Bivol TKO6 Malik Zinad to retain the WBA light heavyweight title. Check out the video here and also subscribe to the channel:
Opetaia eyes Bivol
After WBA light heavyweight titlist Dmitry Bivol knocked out Malik Zinad in the sixth round to retain the title for the 12th time on Saturday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in the one bout that was not part of the “5 vs. 5” Queensberry Promotions-Matchroom Boxing competition, Turki Alalshikh, chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority, announced that Bivol’s fight with three-belt champion Artur Beterbiev has been rescheduled for Oct. 12.
They were supposed to have met for the undisputed title in Saturday’s main event but a month ago Beterbiev suffered a knee injury and Zinad replaced him and the fight was shifted to the undercard.
In congratulating Bivol and announcing the new date for the undisputed fight, Alalshikh also said that he hoped to eventually see Bivol against lineal/IBF cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia, who was ringside.
“You are one of the best fighters ever, you deserve this (Beterbiev fight) and you know we offer you four or five big fights,” Alalshikh said. “We want to see you against (David) Benavidez, we want to see you against Opetaia, we want to see you against the top people. And now focus on the 12th October.”
Bivol (23-0, 12 KOs), 33, of Russia, of course, would have to defeat Beterbiev and then move up one weight class. But if Bivol does, count Opetaia as being very interested in the showdown.
“I would take that fight with open arms,” Opetaia told Title Sports Network. “I respect Bivol. He’s one of the few fighters I watch all the time. So, let’s get it on. He’s a great fighter.
“That guy that he fought (Zinad), even though he was a fill in, he’s not a bad fighter. It just shows you the level (Bivol) is on but I’m on that level too. I’d love to take that fight, man.”
Opetaia (25-0, 19 KOs), 28, an Australian southpaw, has had his last two fights in Riyadh. He KO’d Ellis Zorro in the first round in December to retain the lineal title and outpointed Mairis Briedis in a rematch to regain the vacant IBF belt on May 18 in the co-feature of the Tyson Fury-Oleksandr Usyk undisputed heavyweight title fight.
Ennis-Crowley undercard details
Matchroom Boxing announced the undercard for IBF welterweight titlist Jaron “Boots” Ennis’ mandatory defense versus Cody Crowley on July 13 (DAZN) at the Wells Fargo Center in Ennis’ hometown of Philadelphia and it will be led by newly signed welterweight prospect Jalil “Major” Hackett, confirming a previous Fight Freaks Unite report.
Hackett (8-0, 7 KOs), 21, of Washington, D.C., a former amateur standout and blue chip prospect, who signed with Matchroom Boxing last week, will face Peter Dobson (16-1, 9 KOs), 34, of Bronx, New York, in a 10-rounder.
“I’m so happy to kick off my deal with Matchroom with such a big fight,” Hackett said. “Eddie (Hearn) and Matchroom have a plan for my development that I’m really excited by and that starts on July 13 against Dobson. He took Conor Benn the distance in a good fight, but I’m going to prove that I am ready for this step-up and much more.
“It’s also great to be on Boots’ card in Philadelphia. I’ve done great work with Boots already and I know that tickets for this show have been flying, so I can’t wait to showcase my skills in front of a big crowd and then watch Boots put on a show.”
Although Dobson is coming off his first loss, a lopsided 12-round decision to Benn on Feb. 3 in Las Vegas, he surprised most by going the distance.
“He’s a little boy and I’m going to beat his ass like his father used to,” Dobson said. “He’s trying to use me as a stepping stone and he’s making a terrible mistake. There are levels to this and he’s nowhere near mine. He’s going to find that out in brutal fashion.”
Among the other bouts announced for the undercard:
WBC women’s featherweight titlist Skye Nicolson (10-0, 1 KO), 28, an Australian southpaw, who won the vacant title in February, will make her first defense against Dyana Vargas (18-1, 12 KOs), 32, of Dominican Republic, who will fight outside her home country for the first time.
Light heavyweight up-and-comer Khalil Coe (8-0-1, 6 KOs), 27, of Jersey City, New Jersey, will face Manuel Gallegos (20-2-1, 17 KOs), 26, of Mexico, who is moving up from super middleweight after suffering a fourth-round knockout to Diego Pacheco last July, over 10 rounds.
Junior lightweights Henry Lebron (19-0, 10 KOs), 26, a southpaw, who was recently released by Top Rank and has signed with Matchroom, will face fellow Puerto Rican and another former Top Rank fighter Christopher Diaz (28-4, 18 KOs), 29, a former two-time world title challenger, in a 10-rounder.
Buatsi vs. Hutchinson ordered
The WBO on Monday ordered light heavyweight contenders Joshua Buatsi and Willy Hutchinson to meet for its vacant interim light heavyweight title and notified their representatives, Ben Shalom of Boxxer (Buatsi) and Frank Warren of Queensberry Promotions (Hutchinson).
The fight was ordered because the WBO had given Anthony Yarde 72 hours to accept or decline participation in a purse bid to face Butasi. The bid was supposed to take place this coming Friday. But the time elapsed with no response from two-time title challenger Yarde (25-3, 24 KOs), 32, of England, who is mired in a contract dispute with Warren.
With Yarde no longer in the running to face Buatsi (18-0, 13 KOs), 31, of England, who is already the WBA mandatory challenger, Queensberry made the case to the WBO for Buatsi’s opponent to be Hutchinson (18-1, 13 KOs), 25, of Scotland, who notched his biggest win via lopsided decision over former world title challenger Craig Richard on Saturday’s “5 vs. 5” card.
The WBO agreed on Hutchinson and gave Warren and Shalom 10 days to negotiate the fight. If they don’t make a deal a purse bid will be ordered. Minimum bid would be $300,000.
The Yarde-Queensberry dispute is ongoing with Yarde posting to social media on Monday that he is a free agent.
“As I said before I am a free agent,” Yarde wrote. “Queensberry have now agreed in writing that the term of my previous promotional agreement has expired. So I am free to negotiate my future fights with any promoters, including Queensberry. I’m excited about the future big fights.”
Queensberry’s responded soon after on social media: “We have seen the statement from Anthony Yarde today. Queensberry’s legal advice is that Anthony Yarde still has a contractual obligation to Queensberry, an obligation which Queensberry expects to be honoured.”
Quick hits
Two more members of Team USA qualified for the Paris Olympics this summer: flyweight Roscoe Hill, of Springs, Texas, and female featherweight Alyssa Mendoza, of Caldwell, Idaho. They punched their tickets with unanimous decision wins on Monday at the second 2024 World Qualifying Tournament in Bangkok, Thailand. Hill defeated Mongolia’s Gan-Erdene Gankhuyang and Caldwell outpointed the Netherlands’ Maud Van Der Toorn.
Apparently impressed by how good the “5 vs. 5” card was on Saturday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where Team Queensberry shut out Team Matchroom by winning all five bouts for a 10-0 win, Golden Boy CEO Oscar De La Hoya wants in the on the action. He proposed via social media a similar card matching boxers from his roster against fighters promoted by Top Rank. “Great concept by Turki Alalshikh,” De La Hoya wrote. “Golden Boy Boxing vs. Top Rank in Las Vegas. Golden Boy vs. Top Rank in (Las) Vegas is huge!!!! Bob Arum let’s talk.”
Show and tell
Francisco Vargas won the WBC junior lightweight title in massively dramatic fashion by ninth-round knockout of Takashi Miura in a tremendous battle in his previous fight that I picked as the 2015 ESPN fight of the year. Mexican countryman and former featherweight and junior lightweight titlist Orlando Salido was also known for being in wildly exciting action fights. So, when they were matched for Vargas’ first defense it was not rocket science to expect an all-out slugfest and a fight of the year contender. I was so convinced this would be an epic fight that I traveled to the then-StubHub Center in Carson, California, to cover it and, oh my, was it worth the trip. The HBO main event was everything I expected it to be and more. Fighting less than 24 hours after Muhammad Ali died, Vargas and Salido paid tribute with a spectacular fight. They both predicted it.
“I know that it definitely could be a candidate for fight of the year,” Vargas said beforehand. Salido agreed: “I just want to let everyone know (they should) cancel everything: no weddings, no business, no quinceanera, no nothing. Just go watch this fight. You're going to enjoy it. We’re going to give you a great, great fight, something you’re going to remember for a long, long time.”
Indeed, it was an incredibly savage and bloody battle. They began trading in the final minute of the opening round and never let up. For 12 hellacious rounds, they fought at an insane pace as they relentlessly hammered and staggered each other, combining to throw a CompuBox junior lightweight record 1,593 power punches. In the end, Vargas retained his title by majority draw (115-113 and 114-114 twice) in an unforgettable fight that I picked as the seventh-best fight of the 2010s. But it was also a fight that took a lot out of both men. Vargas lost the title in his next fight and was never the same. Salido fought twice more, going 1-1, and retired. The fight was on June 4, 2016 — eight years ago on Tuesday. Here is a site poster in my collection.
More show and tell
Kostya Tszyu was the lineal/IBF junior welterweight champion — he had been undisputed but boxing politics cost him two belts — and coming off a sensational performance in his previous bout when he scored four knockdowns and wiped out former titleholder Sharmba Mitchell by third-round knockout in their rematch. Ricky Hatton was the rising British star when Tszyu agreed to travel to the lion’s den of Hatton’s hometown of Manchester, England, where 22,000 sold out the arena for a 2 a.m. local start time to accommodate Showtime’s live telecast in U.S. prime time.
It was to that backdrop and a wild atmosphere that Hatton scored the biggest win of his career, the one that has a lot to do with why he will be inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame on Sunday and join Tszyu, who is already enshrined. Hatton was ahead 107-102, 106-103 and 105-104 after 11 rounds but they never go to the 12th round. Tszyu, who had taken punishment at close range throughout the bout, stunningly retired on his stool in what turned out to be his final bout. Hatton was the new champion and became an even bigger star. The fight took place on June 4, 2005 — 19 years ago on Wednesday. Here is a site poster in my collection.
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Photos: Alvarez: Esther Lin/PBC; Opetaia-Briedis: Mikey Williams/Top Rank
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Canelo has created this situation for himself. He apparently wanted to avoid Benavidez and Morrell so the WBC and WBA have facilitated this by offering inducements for them to move up to 175. This has left Canelo with Scull and Berlanga. I know we're supposed to care more about Berlanga because he has Hearn's backing, but they're both weak fights. Given Canelo would carry both events he may as well take the fight which allows him to retain his so-called "undisputed" status. Looks like Turki wants to make Bivol - Benavidez which is a much better fight than anything "Forbes list" Canelo is offering us.
I used boxingscenes site for these rankings... scull is no. 1 in the ibf rankings and shishkin is no
2. They will fight for the vacant title. Shishkin is unranked by the wba and 10th or lower by the wbc/wbo. Scull is unranked by all 3 other orgs. I swear the ibf goes out of their way to rank unaccomplished guys high.