Canelo Alvarez and William Scull weighed in successfully today for their undisputed super middleweight championship fight this Saturday, May 3rd, on DAZN PPV. Three-belt 168-lb champion Canelo (62-2-2, 39 KOs) had a sour look, perhaps annoyed by IBF champion Scull’s smiling, at-ease appearance. Alvarez may have been expecting Scull (23-0, 9 KOs) to cringe, show fear, and act deferential toward him.
The Canelo-Scull event will start at 6:45 p.m. ET / 3:45 pm on DAZN PPV.
Weights
Canelo Alvarez: 167.1 vs. William Scull: 166.1
Jaime Munguia 167.7 vs. Bruno Surace 167.7
Martin Bakole: 299 vs. Efe Ajagba: 240 lbs
Badou Jack 200 vs. Norair Mikaeljan: 198
Surprisingly, heavyweight Martin Bakole (21-2, 16 KOs) only lost 11 lbs from the 310 lbs that he weighed for his last fight against Joseph Parker on February 22nd. Bakole was blown out in two rounds. You’d think he’d have wisened up and lost 25 lbs to get his weight close to the 284 lbs he weighed for his fifth-round knockout of Jared Anderson on August 3rd last year. Is it a discipline thing with Martin? How do you not take off a whole bunch of weight after a loss like the one he experienced against Parker?
Bakole looked fat as a hog today, and that’s not good with him facing the well-conditioned 240-lb puncher Ajabga (20-1, 14 KOs). This guy hits harder than Parker.
Cuban Calmness
“During the week, I thought William Scull was more relaxed than I saw him in New York. But watching him climb the stairs, standing in front of Canelo Alvarez,” said commentator Chris Mannix to DAZN Boxing at today’s weigh-in, noting that William Scull didn’t look confident.
“He wasn’t sure when to step on the scale. Not sure what he was going to wear on the scale. He looked a little bit overwhelmed by the moment here in Riyadh.”
Canelo better hope that he has more left than what he showed in his last two fights, because Scull will give him a boxing lesson if the Mexican star can’t raise his game. What Alvarez needs is a working time machine that can return the 2021 version of himself. The one we saw against Edgar Berlanga and Jaime Munguia won’t be good enough.
“I agree. He looked a little shook. There’s no halfway champions,” said Sergio Mora. “He may be undefeated, but this moment can get to fighters. This moment can get to the champions. So far, the body language doesn’t look good for William Scull. He’s going to have to shine tomorrow night.”
I didn’t see Scull looking shaken today. He had a blank, determined look to him, like fellow Cuban Erislandy Lara looked before schooling Canelo in 2014. Scull’s facial expression was, ‘I got to put this guy in his place just like the other guys I’ve beaten.’ He was completely nonchalant, the way Cubans look before they beat someone up. They’re very polite until the moment a fight starts. Something about their culture that makes them relaxed, and then changes when they are in combat. They just don’t have any fear like normal people.
“William Scull did this yesterday, where he pushed his hands down, like, ‘Everybody relax. I’ve got this. Don’t worry about me,” said commentator Todd Grisham. “Can William Scull pull off one of the biggest upsets in memory? He’s a 30-to-1 underdog to the current face of the sport, Canelo Alvarez.
“It will happen at six in the morning, local time. Canelo says he’s going to wake up at three, jump into a cold plunge to get his body going, and head straight to the arena where he will compete for the first time outside of America for the first time in his career.”
Last Updated on 05/02/2025
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