Chris Mannix was able to breathe a sigh of relief when he saw William Scull sport a baseball cap as he stepped on the scale.
It was a clear sign that the Scullduggery movement would advance without interruption. The unbeaten Cuban and fellow undefeated contender Vladimir Shishkin both weighed 167 ½ pounds ahead of their vacant title fight.
Their scheduled twelve-round bout will air live on DAZN from Stadthalle in Falkansee, Germany. The four-fight telecast will begin at 3:00 p.m. ET.
Scull (22-0, 9 knockouts)—a Cuban export based in Berlin—has weaved in and out of the No. 10 spot in The Ring’s super middleweight rankings. He became the mandatory challenger after a July 2022 points win over Evgeny Shvedenko. The title eliminator between unbeaten contenders saw Scull win a lopsided unanimous decision.
Just three fights have followed for the 31-year-old. The most recent came in an eight-round victory over Sean Hemphill on May 4 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The fight took place on the non-televised undercard portion of Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez’s win over Jaime Munguia.
Alvarez defended his RING and undisputed championship at the time. His reign was since splintered after he failed to honor his IBF mandatory obligation. The sanctioning body ordered Alvarez-Scull nine days after the legendary Mexican’s win over Munguia and sent to a purse bid hearing.
The session was postponed and then canceled outright when the IBF was told that an agreement was reached. There was no proof of that by the time Alvarez announced his next fight versus Edgar Berlanga, who was the unbeaten WBA mandatory at the time.
Appropriate action was taken as Alvarez was relieved of the IBF belt now at stake on Saturday.
Shishkin (16-0, 10 KOs), No. 6 at 168 by The Ring, was next in line as the IBF No. 2 contender. He earned that place after a Dec. 2022 win over former titlist Jose Uzcategui in a title eliminator.
The unbeaten U.S.-based Russian contender was more than willing to enter talks with Scull for his first career title fight. However, their promoters—Salita Promotions (Shishkin) and AGON Sports (Scull) initially failed to reach a deal. The bout was due for a purse bid hearing before the two sides found common ground at the eleventh hour.
DAZN recently announced it would pick up streaming rights in North America and the UK to air the show this weekend. It’s yet another nod to Mannix—senior writer for Sports Illustrated, on-air boxing analyst for DAZN and the sport’s leading Scull aficianado.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for The Ring.
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