LOSER: Boxing fans
If you bought the “Knockout Bundle,” you paid $90 for the Friday and Saturday pay-per-views during Boxing’s Biggest Weekend™. If you bought them separately, you paid even more.
Your reward was some of the most astonishingly bad “big fight” boxing the sport has ever seen over two nights.
The lack of action in Canelo vs Scull, Garcia vs Romero, and Haney vs Ramirez in particular was astounding; like, record-setting, historically bad. CompuBox has tracked fights for 40 years now, and over two nights that dug into your wallet for yet more money to follow the most paywalled sport on the planet, we saw three of the six most actionless fights they have ever tracked, getting worse by the fight.
Haney vs Ramirez came in at fourth place all time for the fewest combined punches (503) thrown in a 12-round fight. It was bumped down to fifth not long after, when Garcia vs Romero topped it to come in at third all-time with 490 punches thrown over 12 rounds.
But Canelo wouldn’t be topped. Not on Boxing’s Biggest Weekend™. He and William Scull combined to throw 445 punches over 12 rounds, setting a new all-time record, surpassing the Deontay Wilder vs Joseph Parker fight from late 2023.
And just by the numbers, it was Canelo, not Scull, most responsible for this. Scull threw 293 punches. Almost none of them were any good, but they were put out there. Canelo threw just 152, the second-fewest ever by a single boxer in a 12-round fight in CompuBox history, with only Devis Boschiero throwing fewer (130) in his 2016 fight with Mario Barrios.
The first round of Canelo vs Scull at least did tell you basically what you were in for, as Canelo went 0-for-4 in the round, and Scull 1-for-20. The only round in which either fighter landed in double digits was Canelo going 10-for-18 in the 12th and final round. Canelo threw 20 punches in a round only once, in the sixth.
Not every fight on the two cards was bad, which we’ll get into more in a bit. But three of the four true “big names” in action — Canelo, Ryan Garcia, Devin Haney — were truly dreadful to watch on back-to-back nights.
LOSER: Canelo Alvarez
At 34, Canelo just didn’t look all that interested in being there, and while it’s true that Scull danced and avoided action all night, Canelo sure didn’t seem to have either the desire or ability to do a whole lot about it.
A lot of the time, boxing at a high level is about making the opponent fight your fight. Scull made clear quickly that he was not looking to engage much with Canelo. Canelo, basically, seemed to accept this, complaining after the fight that he hates fighting opponents like this, who are merely trying to “survive” and go 12 rounds. That’s understandable, because it’s not good for anyone, but you can’t help but think a younger, more fiery, less incredibly rich Canelo (63-2-2, 39 KO) would have found ways to do more, to cut the ring off, to make Scull uncomfortable and actually land some punches.
Last night’s Canelo couldn’t or just didn’t do that. Canelo landed at a good rate when he threw (37% of his total punches landed, 54% of his power shots), but he just didn’t throw. Yes, Scull made it annoying and difficult, but Canelo shrugged and took it as the reality of the night pretty quickly rather than asserting any dominance or greatness. Not what you love to see from “The Face of Boxing.”
WINNER: Terence “Bud” Crawford
Two things have happened over the last two weeks that have been really good for Terence Crawford, who is now officially set to face Canelo on September 12:
Conor Benn plenty held his own with Chris Eubank Jr, and that fight looked even better every time another Big Fight happened over the next week. Benn was going from 147, basically, up to 160. Many felt he’d simply be too small. That was not an issue, and even though he fell short on the cards, the fight was truly great.
Canelo looked so flat and indifferent that the perception of Bud’s chances in September has skyrocketed. Even if you’re saying 30 percent of fans (as in, potential PPV buyers) now think he has a serious chance to win versus a previous 5 or 10 percent, that’s a big leap, and it’s a number a decent promoter can work with in terms of selling it over the next four months. 30 can turn into 50 or better with the right marketing.
LOSER and WINNER: William Scull
Scull (23-1, 9 KO) losing the fight to Canelo Alvarez is one thing, because basically everyone expected that other than some Canelo “haters” and those who misread Scull’s actual ability level. But the manner in which he lost just torpedoes any hope that Scull had of being offered more notable opportunities from the idea that anyone on the planet would want to see him box.
However…
Here’s the thing. William Scull is a 33-year-old Cuban defector with no fan base. He got a Canelo Alvarez fight because he did the IBF’s song-and-dance, backed his way into a world title, and Canelo decided he wanted that back to be “undisputed” again. He made career-best money, probably the most he could ever even hope to make for a fight.
“He’s got to throw more punches!” commentators will cry during fights like this, as if they’ve never seen such a display and are baffled by the lack of Rocky movie passion. Well, he’s not gonna. He’s at work making some money. It is exactly that simple. William Scull is not going to have an emotional crisis over losing this fight or performing poorly in the eyes of the fans or media. It is a job. He was paid well for it.
Just like me, the people talking on the TV have seen this exact scenario hundreds of times. And if Scull plays the IBF game again — Chris Mannix had a nice, inorganic-but-true rant about this during the fight — then he will get another eliminator soon enough. He will qualify for another mandatory soon enough. And if/when Canelo vacates this belt or all of them, William Scull will very possibly find himself in another world title fight soon enough.
It’s the game that sucks. William Scull’s just playing it to the best of his ability.
WINNERS: Badou Jack and Noel Mikaelyan
Photo by Richard Pelham/Getty Images
Two veteran warriors who both hadn’t fought since 2023 turned up, Mikaelyan on short notice, and had an engaging, entertaining, nip-and-tuck cruiserweight title fight.
Whatever you think of the WBC’s weird, messy cruiserweight title situation over the last two years and change, the 41-year-old Jack (29-3-3, 17 KO) and the 34-year-old Mikaelyan (27-3, 12 KO) went out there and fought like champions.
Jack, even with a long layoff and in his golden years as a professional fighter, has retained his trademark toughness and grit, just an incredibly hard guy to deter, tough to beat, and you have to remember this is a man fighting 30 lbs over his natural weight, too. Mikaelyan was as good as ever, and Mikaelyan is maybe the most underrated cruiserweight of the era. He’s still never been beaten clearly, each of his losses debatable. Another hard man to beat.
It may not have been a Fight of the Year candidate, but for my money, it was the best we saw over two nights. Smart, tactical, and plenty entertaining.
WINNERS: Martin Bakole and Efe Ajagba
Like Jack and Mikaelyan, Bakole and Ajagba can say they went out there, fought, and weren’t boring. Considering nobody was in the building when they fought, that’s an achievement; at least they gave the home viewers a nice, back-and-forth heavyweight battle.
The draw result was reasonable, and like Jack vs Mikaelyan, it was well-scored by the judges. As I’ve said before, we rag on judges plenty, and get plenty of opportunity to do so. It’s worth a quick note when they perform well, too.
It would seem as though Bakole (21-2-1, 16 KO) and Ajagba (20-1-1, 14 KO) will likely run it back, and it could even be on the Canelo vs Crawford undercard in four months if both are up to it, as Ajagba stated he would want the rematch in the United States, and that card is headed for Vegas.
WINNER: Jaime Munguia
Munguia (45-2, 35 KO) is never going to be a technician or defensive specialist, but he did show some layers to his game training under Eddy Reynoso, as he boxed in a more Canelo-like manner to get some revenge against Bruno Surace.
The fight was close after five rounds or so, but Munguia made some adjustments and showed a depth in approach that Surace (26-1-2, 5 KO) just didn’t have. As Surace more and more relied on the hope of a big right hand cracking Munguia, as it did last December. It never came this time, and Munguia showed flashes of actual defense that weren’t using his face to absorb blows.
Munguia’s name and entertainment value keep him in the mix at 168, another fighter primed to make some championship noise if and when Canelo vacates or retires or whatever might happen over the next couple of years.
