Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez beat William Scull by unanimous points decision in a drab fight on Sunday morning in Riyadh to become undisputed super middleweight champion again.
Alvarez, who was making his Saudi Arabian debut, is a four-weight world champion and entered the fight with the WBA, WBC and WBO titles at 168 pounds.
He was stripped of the IBF belt last July when he declined to make a mandatory defense against Scull. He had owned that title since November 2021 when he defeated Caleb Plant.
Alvarez became an undisputed champion in the division for the second time when the judges scored it 115-113, 116-112, 119-109 in his favour. The 34-year-old Mexican improved to 63-2-2, with 39 knockouts, and is unbeaten in 10 fights in the super middleweight division.
The fight against IBF champion Scull didn’t live up to expectation, leading to booing inside the arena. The Cuba-born Scull entered the ring unbeaten in 23 professional fights, but constantly moved around, dodging, shuffling and frustrating Alvarez, who was unable to press the action.
Moments after the decision was declared, the promotion for a proposed September 12 fight between Alvarez and Terence Crawford began, with both men facing each other in the ring.
Alvarez was fighting outside the US or Mexico for the first time and had to make plenty of adjustments, including to the time zone.
The fighters walked into the ring and the anthems started around 6.20am local time for the main bout in Riyadh, timed so it was in prime time on the US West Coast.
The opening rounds were slow with both boxers feeling for range and the intensity gradually lifted with Scull throwing more punches but not landing much.
Alvarez, by contrast, stayed patient and was landing body shots. By the end, Alvarez threw almost half as many punches as Scull (152-293) but landed one more (56-55), predominantly power shots to the body.
“That’s why I don’t like to fight those kinds of guys, they come just to survive [and] just to do the 12 rounds,” Alvarez said of Scull, adding that neither the timing of the bout nor the quality of the contest was a problem because he had plenty of time to prepare.
“With this kind of fight, anything can be said [by the judges]. For me, it’s a boring fight. A fighter is not trying to win, they just try to survive. I hate those kinds of fighters.
"That's why I don't like them. I hope September [against Crawford brings] another kind of fight.
“But it's OK, we won. We're here with the title as the champion. I'm a champion. I’m a professional, so that’s all, no excuse or anything."
As for the September showdown against Crawford, who will be stepping up two weight divisions, Alvarez added: “I feel great. Crawford is one of the best out there and, you know, I like to share the ring with that kind of fighter. It’s my pleasure.”
Crawford was in the crowd watching in the Saudi capital.
“I’m feeling great. I'm feeling blessed. Things happen for a reason, and there’s a reason why I’m here," he said. “In September I’m showing the world what greatness looks like.”
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Investors: Technology Development Fund, Silicon Badia, Beco Capital, Vostok New Ventures, Endeavour Catalyst, Crescent Enterprises’ CE-Ventures, Saudi Technology Ventures and IFC
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Navdeep Suri, India's Ambassador to the UAE
There has been a longstanding need from the Indian community to have a religious premises where they can practise their beliefs. Currently there is a very, very small temple in Bur Dubai and the community has outgrown this. So this will be a major temple and open to all denominations and a place should reflect India’s diversity.
It fits so well into the UAE’s own commitment to tolerance and pluralism and coming in the year of tolerance gives it that extra dimension.
What we will see on April 20 is the foundation ceremony and we expect a pretty broad cross section of the Indian community to be present, both from the UAE and abroad. The Hindu group that is building the temple will have their holiest leader attending – and we expect very senior representation from the leadership of the UAE.
When the designs were taken to the leadership, there were two clear options. There was a New Jersey model with a rectangular structure with the temple recessed inside so it was not too visible from the outside and another was the Neasden temple in London with the spires in its classical shape. And they said: look we said we wanted a temple so it should look like a temple. So this should be a classical style temple in all its glory.
It is beautifully located - 30 minutes outside of Abu Dhabi and barely 45 minutes to Dubai so it serves the needs of both communities.
This is going to be the big temple where I expect people to come from across the country at major festivals and occasions.
It is hugely important – it will take a couple of years to complete given the scale. It is going to be remarkable and will contribute something not just to the landscape in terms of visual architecture but also to the ethos. Here will be a real representation of UAE’s pluralism.
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Company name/date started: Abwaab Technologies / September 2019
Founders: Hamdi Tabbaa, co-founder and CEO. Hussein Alsarabi, co-founder and CTO
Based: Amman, Jordan
Sector: Education Technology
Size (employees/revenue): Total team size: 65. Full-time employees: 25. Revenue undisclosed
Stage: early-stage startup
Investors: Adam Tech Ventures, Endure Capital, Equitrust, the World Bank-backed Innovative Startups SMEs Fund, a London investment fund, a number of former and current executives from Uber and Netflix, among others.
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Maratha Arabians Owners: Sohail Khan, Ali Tumbi, Parvez Khan; Key player: Virender Sehwag
Bangla Tigers Owners: Shirajuddin Alam, Yasin Choudhary, Neelesh Bhatnager, Anis and Rizwan Sajan; Key player: TBC
Colombo Lions Owners: Sri Lanka Cricket; Key player: TBC
Kerala Kings Owners: Hussain Adam Ali and Shafi Ul Mulk; Key player: Eoin Morgan
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Timeline October 25: Around 120 players to be entered into a draft, to be held in Dubai; December 21: Matches start; December 24: Finals
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