Held just a day after The Ring-sponsored May 2nd card which broke several historical-low records, the May 3rd Riyadh Season-sponsored card did arguably even worse as headliners Canelo Alvarez and William Scull broke the record for fewest-thrown punches in a 12-round fight during their undisputed super middleweight bout. Further controversy also ensued on the undercard as the event, held at The Venue Riyadh Season in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, arguably became the least exciting Riyadh Season-sponsored event ever during the annual Mexican Cinco de Mayo weekend.

Canelo Alvarez vs. William Scull

Mexican unified [WBA, WBC & WBO] super middleweight (168 lbs) champion Canelo Alvarez (63-2-2, 39 KO’s) and Cuban IBF champion William Scull (23-1, 9 KO’s) competed in only the second 168-pound undisputed fight of the four-belt era but heavily disappointed as they ended up taking first place for fewest-thrown punches in a 12-round fight.

The brunt of these statistics were due to Alvarez himself as he threw only 152 punches during the entire fight, almost twice as less as Scull’s 293 punches thrown, though it was the contrasting styles between both fighters that did most of the damage.

As William Scull took up an “outside boxing” approach where he used his footwork to stay clear out of Alvarez’ range, Alvarez was prevented from fully utilizing his counterattacking style of punching which would best see him operate at close- or mid-range.

With Canelo Alvarez clearly not in the mood to pressure Scull endlessly, the main event became a tedious affair as neither fighter seemed all too willing to engage. Notably, Scull was the more active fighter but proved to be remarkably inefficient as his punches lacked the speed and power to have an impact ― making Scull appear as if he was attempting to frustrate Alvarez more than hurt him.

Despite this, Scull’s jabs seemed to be in working order as he threw a total of 220, though he landed but 27 out of the punches thrown. While Alvarez regularly applied a high guard and head movement to defend against Scull’s punches, it was mostly the intent behind Scull’s punches that proved to be his undoing.

Alvarez’ own efforts seemed severely lacking as he largely targeted Scull’s body, throwing more body punches on average than he did jabs. The Mexican champion’s approach would be the defining factor that contributed to his win as Scull largely failed to avoid Alvarez’ body shots while his own efforts seemed to be foiled by a lack of power as he opted to throw punches in bunches that lacked any actual intent to hurt Alvarez.

Overall, it made for a lackluster match by both fighters given it was not only a title bout but an undisputed match. As a result, both fighters fought beneath their potential and reached the end of the 12 rounds without much action.

Despite not dominating, Alvarez won the match by unanimous decision (UD) as the judges scored it 115-113, 116-112 and 119-109 in Alvarez’ favor, allowing Alvarez to become undisputed for the second time of his career as he gained Scull’s IBF title.

The post-match celebrations were followed by the announcement of the upcoming September 12th bout between Canelo Alvarez and Terence Crawford (41-0, 31 KO’s) as the latter aims to move up two weight categories from the super welterweight (154 lbs) division to challenge Alvarez for his four undisputed 160-pound titles.

Undercard fights:

• Featured in the co-main event, WBC cruiserweight (200 lbs) champion Badou Jack (29-3-3, 17 KO’s) faced the previous holder of the title, Norair Mikaeljan (27-3, 12 KO’s), in a title defense but controversy again ensued following the bout as Jack was announced the winner by unanimous decision.
  
  Most of the controversy would stem from Mikaeljan’s overwhelming activity as he threw 670 totals as opposed to Jack’s 369, but it was Jack who according to CompuBox’s punch stats would land more of his shots than Mikaeljan’s.

  

  With Jack employing a rigid high guard, most of Mikaeljan’s shots failed to make the required impact and were blocked. Jack’s own punches seemed to be the harder-hitting punches, and combined with the statistics depicting Jack landing more punches overall, the fight could have gone either way and Jack’s win does not appear thoroughly undeserved.

• The second controversy that occurred on the undercard stemmed from the heavyweight (200+ lbs) contest between Congolese contender Martin Bakole (21-2-1, 16 KO’s) and Nigerian contender Efe Ajagba (20-1-1, 14 KO’s).
  
  The fight proved to be a competitive and exciting affair between the two, with both fighters gaining momentum during various points of the bout though Ajagba largely outboxed Bakole during both halves of the fight. Despite this, Bakole’s shots were clearly the more impactful between the two fighters, which seemed to ultimately affect the scorecards in his favor.
  
  Overall, Ajagba was the more skilled boxer while Bakole’s performance was mostly defined by his powerful shots. The even-sided nature of the contest would be offset, however, by Ajagba’s efficiency as he outlanded Bakole despite both fighters throwing around the same number of punches. Mostly, it was Ajagba’s combination of footwork, diversity in shots and effectiveness with his jab that should have warranted a close but certain UD win in his favor.
  
  Instead, the fight would be announced as a majority decision (MD) draw instead as one judge scored it 96-94 in favor of Ajagba while the other two judges gave 95-95 scores to make it a controversial draw.

• At 168 pounds, Mexican contender Jaime Munguia (45-2, 35 KO’s) and French contender Bruno Surace (26-1-2, 5 KO’s) faced each other in a rematch after the latter achieved an upset victory over Munguia by knocking out the Mexican fighter during his Top Rank debut.
  
  With Surace having been down on the scorecards during the first fight, the blueprint was laid for Munguia for the second match upon doing certain defensive adjustments ― adjustments Munguia would moderately apply as he coursed to a well-earned unanimous decision win over Surace.
  
  The defining factor of this bout compared to the first would be Munguia’s more regular employment of a high guard, which had been lacking during the first fight and culminated in his knockout loss. Now more aware of the damage Surace could do despite his low KO ratio, Munguia won the bulk of the 12 rounds he participated in as he outworked Surace to claim his UD victory and revenge his previous loss.
  
• British fighter Richard Riakporhe (18-1, 14 KO’s) would further make his heavyweight debut on the undercard, defeating Argentinian journeyman Kevin Nicolas Espindola (9-10, 4 KO’s) by stoppage in the 4th round of their 8-round contest.