Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez is in his usual Cinco de Mayo weekend slot this Saturday, and this time he is in Riyadh to defend his unified super middleweight world titles against Germany-based Cuban William Scull, the IBF champion, as part of a packed line-up.
Turki Alalshikh backs the Canelo vs Scull card with the help of several big promotional outfits, and is live on DAZN.
Alvarez (62-2-2, 39 KOs) is still only 34, but with 66 fights behind him, and a glittering career has seen him as world champion in multiple weight classes. He finally settled on super middleweight, where he won the vacant WBC title on the cards against Callum Smith in December 2020.
After adding the WBA, WBO and IBF belts, the Mexican was then defeated by Dimitry Bivol after moving up to light heavyweight, only to return to defend his gold a further five times.
The last of those defences was in September last year, where he decked Edgar Berlanga on the way to a wide points win.
The IBF removed Alvarez as champion as a result of this defence, and Scull (23-0, 9 KOs) took advantage, winning the title with a points success over Vladimir Shishkin in Germany.
Scull has operated at a much lower level to his illustrious opponent, and has only been twelve rounds on three occasions, so this makes his latest assignment against Canelo a tough one.
Prediction: Canelo will likely have too much experience for Scull, and can dominate early before taking a points win, likely a wide one.
Munguia looks for revenge over Surace
Jaime Munguia (44-2, 35 KOs) is at a career crossroads, and he takes an immediate rematch with Bruno Surace (26-0-2, 5 KOs) at super middleweight.
💣 When Jaime Munguia was knocked out by Bruno Surace in the 2024 Upset of the Year last December.
💥 Immediate rematch this Saturday on the Canelo-Scull card.pic.twitter.com/eWVS83DgEt
— EverythingBoxing (@EverythingBoxi2) April 30, 2025
Munguia lost to Canelo last May, but then returned to knock out Erik Bazinyan in ten four months later. He then took a homecoming fight with Surace in December, but was stunned by the light-punching Frenchman, who got off the deck to finish Munguia in six in Tijuana.
Prediction: Munguia should learn from his mistakes of his original meeting with Surace, and can box smartly to record a points win.
Jack defends against Mikaeljan
There is world title action on the card, with Badou Jack (28-3-3, 17 KOs) defending his WBC cruiserweight title against Norair Mikaeljan (27-2, 12 KOs).
Jack took the title by stopping Ilunga Makabu in the final frame in February 2023, but Mikaeljan laid claim to the title himself in November of the same year, stopping Ilunga Makabu in three rounds in Miami after Jack was made champion in recess by the WBC after declaring interest in challenging for their bridgerweight title.
Mikaeljan was then made champion in recess himself due to a promotional wrangle with Don King, and Jack was elevated back to full champion. Confused? you should be! The two square off to sort the mess out once and for all.
Prediction: Jack is a wily campaigner, and should be able to negotiate the challenge of Mikaeljan, and retain on the cards.
Return of Bakole
Martin Bakole (21-2, 16 KOs) took a short-notice lucrative chance in February, and was stopped in two rounds by Joseph Parker, but he takes on his previously-planned assignment against Efe Ajagba (20-1, 14 KOs) here.
The loss for Bakole cost him a final eliminator for the IBF heavyweight title, but he will be well-placed with a win here. Ajagba has won five straight since losing on points to Frank Sanchez in 2021, the last a split decision against Guido Vianello in April last year.
Prediction: This could well be a shootout, and I lean towards Ajagba getting the job done in the first half of this bout
At light heavyweight, Brayan Leon (6-0, 6 KOs) can continue his perfect start as a pro with an early win against Aaron Rocha Guerrero (11-3-1, 7 KOs), and Marco Verde can debut with a stoppage of Michel Galvan Polina (4-5-3, 2 KOs) in their middleweight clash.
