In this week’s mailbag, we tackle your thoughts on Canelo Alvarez’s next fight against William Scull on May 3, as well as Josh Taylor’s move into the welterweight division to face Ekow Essuman, also in May.

Want to be featured in the mailbag? Comment or ask a question in the comments section below. Submissions may be edited for length and clarity. We also may select readers’ comments from other BoxingScene stories.

CANELO VS. WILLIAM SCULL IS AN EPIC JOKE

This fight (“Canelo Alvarez will fight William Scull on May 3 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia”) is such a joke of epic proportions. The only legit opponent Scull has fought is Vladimir Shishkin, and he absolutely robbed Shishkin blind. Scull’s three fights before Shishkin were an eight-rounder, a six-rounder, and an eight-rounder. 

A complete clown opponent, like all of Canelo’s opponents have been since Dmitry Bivol. He’s literally just looking for the easiest fights that he can twist and spin into something when they are clearly nothing.

-daggum

Owen Lewis’ response: As usual, a few caveats: All prizefighters deserve credit for even stepping into the ring when infinitely easier careers are available; Scull winning his first 23 professional fights is an accomplishment that shouldn’t be dismissed; and several outlets unofficially scored the fight for Scull, including BoxingScene and Bad Left Hook, so “robbed [Shishkin] blind” is likely an exaggeration at best.

That said… yeah, I’m not much more optimistic than you. I’ve seen quite a few comments praising this fight, mostly because it is technically a unification bout for the undisputed championship, or because an alternative to Scull seemed to be Jake Paul. I prefer numbers as a judge of what kind of fight Canelo-Scull will be. Like you pointed out, Scull hasn’t fought consistently over 12 rounds, and at 32 years old this is not because he is new to the professional scene. Canelo is also, as of now, a -2500 favorite on Box.Live.

If this fight is worthy to some people because it’ll unify all four belts again, I’m very happy for them. Good for Scull for getting the opportunity, and good for Canelo (I suppose) for managing to line up a sixth straight opponent against whom he is a -400 favorite or wider against. If this is what we have to endure to get to a likely Canelo-Terence Crawford fight in September, so be it.

As the fight gets closer, I imagine outlets will preview Canelo-Scull, ask if Scull has a chance in about 500 different ways, and then marvel at Canelo’s enduring star power if and when he wins in front of a raucous crowd. I wish I thought any of that would prove worth the time people will spend on it.

JUST DON’T CARE ABOUT CANELO’S CHOICES ANYMORE

Honestly, I think it does not matter what Canelo does. Maybe his most ardent supporters care, but I think the rest of us are getting jaded over all the Canelo articles and arguments. He is choosing a certain path for himself that most experts and fans alike disapprove of, but he is doing it nevertheless. Good luck to him and his supporters who are paying for his pay-per-views. I will not be watching his fights other than Terence “Bud” Crawford, if it happens. 

-BrankoB

Jason Langendorf’s response: You’re speaking my language, Branko. Canelo isn’t obligated to fight anyone. It’s his career and his gray matter – and his alone. This isn’t the Roman Colosseum (even if Alvarez would be the lion in this analogy), and besides: I’m going to give a bit more leeway at this stage to a dude who fought a Gennadiy Golovkin trilogy and managed to sandwich Dmitry Bivol as an opponent in-between for good measure.

My lone beef is that Canelo is allowed to indefinitely hold his belts hostage. It isn’t fair to other fighters or the fans, and it does nothing to enhance Alvarez’s ensuing fights. Does a Canelo-Crawford fight offer more appeal to me, for instance, if it’s contested with the undisputed championship on the line? Absolutely not. So let’s try to be grown-ups, follow the rules and, when the sanctioning bodies’ stipulations diverge from Canelo’s “certain path,” strip him.

In any case, these are all “other people” problems, in that other people are the only ones with the direct power to fix them. Still, if you don’t like the way the belts are being handled? If you think Canelo is settling on Uber drivers for opponents? Don’t watch. It’s literally your only recourse as a fan. Hold on to your C-note, turn away from the spectacle and ignore the results of a Cinco de Mayo distraction with William Scull or Jake Paul or a hologram of John L. Sullivan. Be like Branko: Make Canelo earn his money.

SCULL IS BETTER THAN SOME GIVE HIM CREDIT FOR

Scull isn’t bad, to be fair. Pretty good boxer. If he has decent punch resistance, he could give Canelo a closer fight than expected. Scull isn’t a power-puncher, though, with only a 39% knockout ratio, and most of those KOs came from an accumulation of punches, not one-punch KOs. But I think this is gonna be an exciting fight for as long as it lasts. Even if Scull gets knocked out, I think it’ll be because he’s trying to win the fight and not just survive for 12 rounds. He does hold that left hand low, though, so look out for Canelo’s overhand right. 

-Flatline

Lucas Ketelle’s response: Canelo Alvarez is in a fight, but it isn’t that fight we are waiting on – the David Benavidez fight. William Scull, the IBF super middleweight titleholder, debatably won his title against Vladimir Shishkin. That said, Scull brings something that Alvarez has historically hated: movement.

At this point, Alvarez is playing the hits in the ring. He can slip punches, but what makes him elite is his power and experience that manifests in fight intelligence. Scull should be a formality on paper for Alvarez to become a two-time undisputed champion, but this is also Scull’s biggest moment of his life. If he shows up to win, let’s not forget that Alvarez has been a pro for a very long time. Alvarez predates modern social media standards.

Personally, any fight ahead of a super fight makes me nervous. Things get weird in boxing when fights are essentially double-booked. So, while Alvarez should win, Scull is an odd and tricky opponent who could make things uncomfortable for those waiting on a “super fight” with Alvarez and Terence Crawford.

CANELO ALVAREZ IS NO LONGER A POUND-FOR-POUND FIGHTER

Canelo Alvarez is more a celebrity than an athlete. He is a risk-calculated prizefighter since the beginning, with him having a lot of backing compared to most fighters with the backing of the promoters and judges. 

You can display his whole resume, which seems impressive at first, but with context, it is shown that it is manufactured to look that way by mixing quite-declined high-profile fighters and risky but high reward opponents. It is for a Hall Of Famer, and he is quite skilled to have pulled it off, but it is quite exaggerated of how great it is. 

Stipulations like catchweights and rehydration clauses were often at the beginning to reduce risk, even bringing up fighters like Floyd Mayweather Jnr, Amir Khan and Jermell Charlo. Prizefighters like Mayweather himself and Gervonta Davis maneuver their careers like that as well. 

Canelo’s celebrity status and connections are what is allowing him to retain his spot in the pound-for-pound rankings, along with him being able to ignore mandatories by the four professional boxing organizations. He has profitable fights in pay-per-views, even without a standard great opponent to pull it off. There is a reason PBC and DAZN have been cooperating for his fights. There is a reason why fighters like Juan Manuel Marquez who were rarely in the position to be the A-side don’t like how Canelo maneuvers his career, as Marquez himself didn't get major opportunities until he was in his early 30s, nor did he apply anti-risks. 

Realistically Canelo should not have been in the P4P list for years and should have been stripped multiple times, as he should have fought mandatories like David Benavidez. But professional boxing benefits financially by backing Canelo, so he isn’t exactly treated like an athlete that should follow the rules of the sport, at least compared to the vast majority of the other fighters. Gervonta Davis is also treated this way, though he hasn’t fought good lightweights without conditions outside of Jose Pedraza and Frank Martin.  

-J.C. Superstar

Tris Dixon’s  response: I’m not sure Canelo is more celebrity than athlete just yet. He’s still a hell of a fighter. Last year wasn’t a banner year because of the standards he’s set himself, but for Edgar Berlanga and Jaime Munguia to be nowhere near him shows Canelo has plenty left. 

But, yes, the calculation is there, and I wonder if his risk-averse nature kicking in now will be reinforced by the Saudi deal. Maybe, maybe not. If Canelo had done the Jake Paul fight, part of me would like to believe he would have done David Benavidez in September to shut up those who were talking about him fighting Paul. But, of course, I’ve no proof of that. Though I found it interesting that trainer/manager Eddy Reynoso travelled to watch Benavidez-Morrell. 

But, yes, when fighters become the Golden Egg of the sport, they are treated differently. That is not fair, and we know it. But, also, we can say all we want about having a supposed easy fight with William Scull now, but it’s the sanctioning body – in this case the IBF – who have enabled this particular fight, having stripped Canelo. Now he has to win his own belt back. It’s stupid. It’s part of a wider problem. And while I see what you’re saying, I don’t think you can have a P4P list without Canelo yet.

WE’LL SOON SEE HOW MUCH JOSH TAYLOR HAS LEFT

I hope I am wrong, but I feel Josh Taylor may be spent. He won the rematch with Jack Catterall (Taylor lost the first time, in my opinion), but was robbed. He also lost to the very average Teofimo Lopez. I don’t know if he will have the power to be a success at 147. This match with Ekow Essuman is a good test fight at the weight. 

-BiiiiigAl

Tris Dixon’s response: You certainly aren’t alone with these thoughts, that Taylor’s best days might be behind him. And what great days they were. However, if there is more left, then the welterweight division is far less cluttered than it has been, and linking up with Frank Warren creates a whole host of opportunities for him. 

I like the Essuman fight and believe it will give us answers to the questions that we might have about what is left in terms of both mileage and desire. Taylor has the quality to win well, but without the one punch to lay out Essuman, he might be forced to dig deep. We know Essuman comes to fight and comes to win. This is the chance of a lifetime for him. For Taylor, an impressive victory and we won’t be condemning him to the scrap heap just yet. I agree that it’s the right test at the right time.

Want to be featured in the mailbag? Comment or ask a question in the comments section below. Submissions may be edited for length and clarity. We also may select readers’ comments from other BoxingScene stories.