Canelo Alvarez is no longer the undisputed champion of the super middleweight division after the International Boxing Federation (IBF) decided to strip him of his IBF belt. Though a press release through their official channels has remained absent, the IBF’s latest update of their rankings have revealed the IBF super middleweight title to be vacant.
#1 Cuban contender William Scull (22-0, 9 KO’s) and #2 Russian contender Vladimir Shishkin (16-0, 10 KO’s) will now be fighting over the vacant IBF super middleweight (168 lbs) title after it was reported last week that the two had struck a deal, resulting in a scheduled purse bid between both fighters’ parties to be cancelled. Prior to this agreement, the two had been ordered to fight each other by the IBF in early August.
The forced relinquishment of Canelo Alvarez’ (61-2-2, 39 KO’s) IBF super middleweight title shows a strict deviation by the organization after roughly a year of inconsistent decisions that has raised quite a few eyebrows. The IBF’s most recent mishap occurred when former undisputed heavyweight (200+ lbs) champion, Oleksandr Usyk (22-0, 14 KO’s), voluntarily vacated his title rather than being stripped by the organization as expected, which made it doubtful whether Alvarez would be stripped in the first place for refusing to face mandatory challenger William Scull.
However, following the official announcement of Alvarez’ upcoming September 14th fight against Puerto Rican contender Edgar Berlanga (22-0, 17 KO’s), it appears the IBF has started to prioritize consistency in their rulemaking once more. Alvarez remains the holder of the WBA, WBC and WBO 168 lbs world titles, and also still holds The Ring Boxing Magazine belt.
Despite the setback in seeing his title vacated, Canelo Alvarez actually finds himself with the opportunity to become undisputed for the second time of his career if he manages to defeat Berlanga on September 14th. With Scull and Shishkin now expected to fight either next month or in October, the time window appears favorable for Alvarez to negotiate an undisputed fight with the winner either late this year, or early in the next year of 2025.
Alternatively, there is also a slim possibility for Edgar Berlanga himself to net an unlikely win over Canelo Alvarez to become the unified super middleweight champion and receive his own opportunity to become undisputed by fighting the future winner and IBF 168 lbs champion between Scull and Shishkin.
