With speculation mounting about Canelo Alvarez’s next opponent, the IBF has decided to withdraw the IBF and ultimately order him to face long-time mandatory challenger William Scull. Scull’s promoter, AGON Sports and Events, claims the couple has four weeks to reconcile and avoid the auction.

The Cuban-born, German-based Scull (22-0, 9 KOs) has exactly one notable victory to his name: a July 2022 decision over Evgeny Shvedenko in the final. He has been booked for eight rounds or less in each of his last three fights, including a stoppage of Sean Hemphill on Canelo’s (61-2-2, 39 KOs) last undercard.

There’s no doubt that Scull is Canelo’s least well-known and least lucrative opponent since Avni Yildirim, who was also an inadequate mandatory. There’s always the possibility of paying Scull to come back to the bench, like Jermell Charlo did with Bakhram Murtazaliev, but that’s entirely up to Scull to play ball. Canelo and company could also theoretically make the case that WBA was next in the rotation that led to the Edgar Berlanga fight.

As Jake Donovan points out in The Ring, this isn’t Canelo’s first clash with the IBF, which famously stripped him in 2019 when he failed to make peace with Sergiy Derevyanchenko. It remains to be seen whether Canelo’s refusal to accept mandatory challenges will come back to bite him.

This weekend there will be a large heavyweight fight between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk. Fury tells Sky Sports that he feels the energy surrounding this event in Saudi Arabia. Both Fury and Usyk will get a occasional opportunity to compete for the undisputed heavyweight crown, something that hasn’t happened in decades.

“It’s happening, it’s about to happen and here’s something I’ve never done, something people have been waiting for. You feel like the whole world is waiting for it,” Fury said Heavenly sports.

Despite the momentous occasion for Fury, he admits that he has already achieved everything he could have dreamed of, being wealthy, renowned, fulfilled and with a loving family, and that this is not an opportunity he was particularly looking for.

Fury says he only ever wanted to become the undefeated heavyweight champion of the world and beat Wladimir Klitschko, which he did both times, and then he had nothing more to prove. He never thought about becoming undisputed.

“That was never my job, and I’m just being candid. I’ve always said that’s other people’s dream. Joshua’s dream was to be undisputed. That’s not a lie, that’s what he talked about his whole career: ‘The road to undisputed…’ That was never my dream.”

The opportunity to win all the belts has now been presented to Fury, and he says it is simply a bonus he is cheerful to take, even if he never deliberately pursues it. Fury will have the chance to operate that bonus on Saturday night against the capable and determined Usyk.

This Saturday, Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk will finally face off in an undisputed heavyweight championship fight.

While that is the obvious highlight and the main reason to buy the PPV or not, the Riyadh card also has some good things on the pay-per-view card.

A quick glance at the most crucial information on the back of the card:

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• Jai Opetaia AND Mairis Briedis They met in a rematch for the vacant IBF cruiserweight title, the two first met in July 2022 in a bloody war that left the victorious Opetaia with a broken jaw and Briedis with a broken jaw.
• Undefeated heavyweights Frank Sanchez AND Agit Kabayel will meet in a duel on the training ground that could determine one of the next contenders for the heavyweight title.
• Joe Cordina defends his IBF super featherweight title against Antoni Caca.
• Featherlight heavyweight veteran Sergei Kovalevonce a top contender in the division, is fighting for the first time in two years against Robin Sirwan Safar in a cruiserweight fight.

Opetaia (24-0, 19 KO) has been considered a top contender in the cruiserweight division since his win over Briedis (28-2, 20 KO) almost two years ago. Their fight in Australia was absolutely brutal, a war of attrition that saw neither fighter give up for more than 12 rounds, and Opetaia went from question mark to leader in that time. Since then, Opetaia has absolutely crushed Jordan Thompson and Ellis Zorro, only further elevating his status while Briedis has been inactive.

• Grades: A-. In a sense, there’s no telling what we’ll get out of the 39-year-old Briedis after such a long period on the sidelines, but it’s also challenging to be negative about this fight, even if you suspect Briedis might be worse off in terms of wear and tear or even earnings on the outside. If he’s making money, he’s making it in the toughest fight he’s ever had, so that in itself is respectable. The vacant IBF title is what it is, a nonsensical piece of protocol – it gets dumber to follow the more you explain it, but the belt that should be included is there, so just keep going.

Sanchez (24-0, 17 KOs) went from treading water (at best) on PBC cards to a Saudi heavyweight card, now finally getting a good fight on paper against Kabayel (24-0, 16 KOs), who went from semi-mystery on the European level to looking like a potential real contender after demolishing Arslanbek Makhmudov.

• Grades: B+. This could be a bad watch on any occasion, as Sanchez is not the best Evander Holyfield in terms of entertainment value, but it is a solid fight between two guys with something to prove, and both hope to become a real option for Fury vs. Usyk or another world title fight in the near future. The winner will be in this set; if the winner wins impressively, all the better.

Cordina (17-0, 9 KOs) took the IBF 130-pound title from Kenichi Ogawa in a brutal knockout about two years ago and has defended twice, defeating Shavkat Rakhimov and Edward Vazquez, both tough fights that ended with Cordina’s skill. Cacace (21-1, 7 KOs) is a former British champion who has done everything he can to earn his first world title shot, winning six in a row since losing to Martin J. Ward in 2017.

Grades: B. It’s not some amazing fight or anything, but Cacace is a decent enough contender and on the boxing scale of “world title contender” he doesn’t in any way offend credibility. Once again he did what the sport asked him to do and here he is. He’s also the type of fighter who will give it a fair try even if Cordina proves to be a stern style challenge in the early rounds.

Kovalev (35-4-1, 29 KOs) has only fought once since his 2019 KO of Canelo Alvarez, and that was two years ago, and his cruiserweight win over Tervel Pulev left no real impression. He looked decent enough to win it fair and square, but the Russian is now 41 and a shadow of his prime. Safar (16-0, 12 KOs) is a 31-year-old Swedish fighter who turned pro in 2017. This is obviously a gigantic opportunity for him in a gigantic event. Since 2019, his career has been tied to the US, but until now he has really been fighting at club level.

Ratings: incomplete. I really have no idea what we’re getting here, what Kovalev has left in the tank, what Safar really has. It adds some interest to the matchup, but certainly nothing more.

Also on the card: Lightweight Mark Chamberlain looks set to continue his progression against Joshua Oluwaseun; rising cruiserweight prospect David Nyika fights Michael Seitz; heavyweight prospect Moses Itauma in action and more.