Chris Mannix was in a position to breathe a sigh of aid when he noticed William Scull sport a baseball cap as he stepped on the size.
It was a transparent signal that the Scullduggery motion would advance with out interruption. The unbeaten Cuban and fellow undefeated contender Vladimir Shishkin each weighed 167 ½ kilos forward of their vacant title battle.
Their scheduled twelve-round bout will air stay on DAZN from Stadthalle in Falkansee, Germany. The four-fight telecast will start at 3:00 p.m. ET.
Scull (22-0, 9 knockouts)—a Cuban export based mostly in Berlin—has weaved out and in of the No. 10 spot in The Ring’s tremendous middleweight rankings. He grew to become the obligatory challenger after a July 2022 factors win over Evgeny Shvedenko. The title eliminator between unbeaten contenders noticed Scull win a lopsided unanimous determination.
Simply three fights have adopted for the 31-year-old. The newest got here in an eight-round victory over Sean Hemphill on Could 4 at T-Cellular Area in Las Vegas. The battle came about on the non-televised undercard portion of Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez’s win over Jaime Munguia.
Alvarez defended his RING and undisputed championship on the time. His reign was since splintered after he didn’t honor his IBF obligatory obligation. The sanctioning physique ordered Alvarez-Scull 9 days after the legendary Mexican’s win over Munguia and despatched to a handbag bid listening to.
The session was postponed after which canceled outright when the IBF was informed that an settlement was reached. There was no proof of that by the point Alvarez introduced his subsequent battle versus Edgar Berlanga, who was the unbeaten WBA obligatory on the time.
Applicable motion 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 subsequent in line because 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 greater than keen to enter talks with Scull for his first profession title battle. Nevertheless, their promoters—Salita Promotions (Shishkin) and AGON Sports activities (Scull) initially failed to achieve a deal. The bout was due for a handbag bid listening to earlier than the 2 sides discovered widespread floor on the eleventh hour.
DAZN lately introduced it might decide up streaming rights in North America and the UK to air the present this weekend. It’s one more nod to Mannix—senior author for Sports activities Illustrated, on-air boxing analyst for DAZN and the game’s main Scull aficianado.
Jake Donovan is a senior author for The Ring.
