Saul “Canelo” Alvarez has officially mapped out his 2025 campaign. In the first fight of his new four-bout deal with Turki Alalshikh’s Riyadh Season, the WBA, WBC and WBO super middleweight champion will put his belts on the line against IBF champion William Scull on May 3 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The winner of Alvarez vs. Scull will be considered boxing’s undisputed super middleweight champion — a distinction “Canelo” previously earned once before in 2021. Alvarez was stripped of the IBF belt in July 2024 for choosing to fight Edgar Berlanga rather than his mandatory challenger, Scull.
Ring Magazine, the media outlet owned by Alalshikh, broke the news Saturday.
Alvarez, 34, one of boxing’s biggest draws, is Uncrowned No. 6 pound-for-pound boxer in the world. He is expected to face fellow pound-for-pound great Terence Crawford in a blockbuster battle in Las Vegas in September — a fight which would now be for undisputed status if Alvarez gets past Scull in May.
Alvarez (62-2-2, 39 KOs) has won five consecutive super middleweight bouts since moving up in weight and failing to capture the WBA light heavyweight title against Dmitry Bivol in 2022. He punctuated that streak with decision wins over Jaime Munguia and Edgar Berlanga this past year.
The undefeated Scull (23-0, 9 KOs) captured the IBF title vacated by Alvarez this past October with a decision over Vladimir Shishkin. A Cuba native who fights out of Germany, Scull, 32, now receives the biggest opportunity of his professional career — and a chance to ruin the grand plans of Alvarez, Crawford and Alalshikh by pulling off what would be one of boxing’s biggest upsets in recent years.
