Undisputed super-middleweight king Canelo Alvarez has been ordered to face IBF mandatory challenger William Scull.
The development was confirmed on Tuesday morning by Scull’s promoter AGON Sports & Events, who took to social media to share the news.
“The IBF has ordered the fight between Canelo and William Scull,” the statement began.
“Both teams have 4 weeks to reach an agreement or it will go to purse bid.”
Scull is not a name many fans will be familiar with.
He became Canelo’s IBF mandatory after scoring a unanimous decision win over Evgeny Shvedenko in July 2022 and has largely flown under the radar in a 168lbs weight class packed to the brim with quality.
The Cuban boxer hasn’t fought anyone of serious note during his 22-fight (22-0, 9 KOs) pro career with Shvedenko – a fringe world level super-middleweight contender – being the best operator he has faced.
His most recent outing came on the untelevised undercard portion of Canelo’s last fight against Jaime Munguia earlier this month.
‘El Indomable’ beat Sean Hamphill (16-2, 10 KOs) on points.
Canelo is expected to return to the ring in September following his decision win over Munguia.
Edgar Berlanga, Canelo’s WBA mandatory, was touted to be the frontrunner to face the Mexican superstar next as the WBA are ahead of the IBF in the sanctioning body rotation system.
However, the WBA are yet to order Canelo to box Berlanga at the time of writing.
Berlanga was made WBA mandatory last month after former WBA (regular) 168lbs champion announced he would be moving up to light-heavyweight to face Radivoje Kalajdzic for the interim belt in June.
The 26-year-old, like Scully, is 22-0 in the paid ranks although he has a far higher finish rate with 17 knockouts from his 22 wins.
Berlanga has also mostly boxed fringe world level contenders with his best win coming against former IBO light-heavyweight champion Padraig McCrory last time out in February.
