SOME OF THE SPORTS BEST SET TO SHINE ON A BOXING BONANZA OF A WEEKEND
Now to Saudi on Saturday night, where the legendary Canelo Alvarez aims to become the undisputed super-middleweight champion for a second time, against Cuba’s William Scull.
A fighter who has gone massively under the radar, Scull fought out of Argentina at the start of his career before moving to Germany, where he has been based for his last 12 fights.
He picked up the IBF world title in his last outing when defeating Vladimir Shishkin, but in Canelo, he takes a massive step up in class.
Even though Scull has never fought at this level, it’s a fight that Canelo cannot overlook. The classic Cuban style has caused him problems in the past, with the last Cuban he faced, Erislandy Lara, giving him all sorts of trouble in a bout many believe the Mexican was lucky to win on the cards.
That fight was over 10 years ago, though—and now, Canelo is a completely different, much more rounded fighter.
Expect Alvarez to take a couple of rounds to suss Scull out before taking control in the middle rounds and potentially securing a late stoppage.
Prior to the main event, though, there is a stacked undercard. Jaime Munguia looks to right the wrongs against Bruno Surace, who shocked the world by becoming the first man to stop Munguia at the end of last year.
Badou Jack defends his WBC World Cruiserweight Title against late replacement Noel Mikaelian, whilst the hard-hitting heavyweights Martin Bakole and Efe Ajagba put it all on the line in an all-African affair—which will no doubt end with someone getting knocked out cold.
If that wasn’t enough, Olympic silver medallist Marco Verde makes his professional debut against Michel Polina, and dynamite-fisted Cuban light-heavyweight Brayan Leon looks to make it seven stoppage wins from seven fights against Aaron Guerrero.
Now, for the final card of the week—where one of the pound-for-pound greats will be looking to further solidify his claim as one of the best to ever do it.
The career of Naoya Inoue has been quite breathtaking. A four-weight world champ who has become undisputed in two of those divisions, he’s widely regarded as the best fighter on the planet right now—and rightly so.
On Sunday night, he faces the 26-1 American Ramon Cardenas.
In terms of quality of opposition, it’s a bit of a step back for Inoue after facing the likes of TJ Doheny and Luis Nery in his last three fights.
The sole loss of Cardenas’s career came back in 2017 against Danny Flores—who is now on a 17-fight losing streak since that bout.
Cardenas has put together some decent wins since that defeat, but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to predict this should be a fairly straightforward—and quick—night at the office for Inoue.
Three huge cards over three nights—brace yourselves, boxing fans, because this is going to be a weekend to remember.