Last night in Brandenberg, Germany, William Scull picked up the vacant IBF super middleweight belt courtesy of a largely dull, fun right at the end, 12 rounder that he won via close unanimous decision, this over Vladimir Shishkin. Scores were 116-113, 116-112 and 115-113, all for Scull.
Scull is now 23-0(9), Shishkin is now 16-1(10).
The winning of the belt is the good news for Scull, the bad news is he almost certainly blew his audition for a shot at real 168 pound ruler Canelo Alvarez; the man who saw his IBF belt taken from him for not fighting Scull in the first place Now, after a rather dreary fight that finally livened up in the very last round, this when Shishkin hurt Scull with his left hand, not too many people will be calling for a Canelo-Scull encounter.
Scull stated before last night’s win how he would indeed emerge victorious and then “go after the ginger one.” Now, his disrespect aside, Scull will almost certainly have to look elsewhere as he plots his maiden title defence. But how long will Scull manage to hold onto the IBF belt?.
Maybe Scull has better, more impressive, and exciting performances in him, maybe not. Knowing the IBF, it won’t be too long before Scull is mandated his first title challenger, and it will be somewhat interesting to see just who Scull does fight next.
As for Canelo, we all still want to see the Mexican star get it on with David Benavidez, but it just doesn’t seem as though this fight will happen. Canelo will make his choice for his May fight, to take place on Cinco de Mayo, and nobody will force him to face anyone he doesn’t want to face.
But for sure, nobody is desperate to see Canelo fight William Scull.
