Saul “Canelo” Alvarez owns a new slice of boxing history, though it’s probably one he’d rather forget.
The now two-time undisputed super middleweight champion was one-half of a fight that set a new record for in-ring passivity on Saturday night, as Alvarez (152) and William Scull (293) combined to throw just 445 punches for their undisputed title bout at the ANB Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The paltry total represented the fewest combined punches thrown in a 12-round boxing bout in the 40-year history of boxing stat-tracker CompuBox.
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In addition, the 152 punches thrown by “Canelo” himself were the second-fewest ever thrown by a lone boxer in a 12-round bout tracked by CompuBox.
Despite that dubious new benchmark, Alvarez won a lopsided unanimous decision over Scull to once again become undisputed champion and set the stage for a massive Sept. 12 showdown against fellow pound-for-pound great Terence Crawford at Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium. The one-sided nature of the contest reflected the bizarre — and often maddening — way in which Scull fought, which essentially amounted to avoiding engagements and throwing pitter-patter punches from the outside.
After a big boxing weekend that already saw Rolly Romero vs. Ryan Garcia and Devin Haney vs. Jose Ramirez nearly set new records for 12-round inactivity just one day prior, Alvarez’s performance drew a deluge of criticism from his pugilistic peers, including from the opponent he nearly signed on to face instead of Scull: YouTuber turned big-bout boxer Jake Paul.
Some of the reaction to Alvarez’s unfortunate history-making win over Scull can be seen below.
Catch full results, highlights and play-by-play from Saturday’s Alvarez vs. Scull event.
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