Canelo cruises, locks up Sept. clash with Crawford

Canelo Alvarez's super middleweight title fight against William Scull already felt like something of a formality going in on Saturday -- and that's exactly how it played out.

Alvarez (63-2-2, 39 KOs) became the undisputed 168-pound champion for the second time in his career, as he defeated Scull (23-1, 9 KOs) via unanimous decision (115-113, 116-112, 119-109) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. With the victory, Alvarez regained the IBF title that was stripped of him last year after he declined to face Scull.

Saturday's victory set up a highly anticipated matchup between Alvarez and Terence Crawford on Sept. 12 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. Crawford was in attendance on Saturday and immediately entered the ring to face off with Alvarez.

The result of the fight with Scull was what everyone expected -- and wanted -- but it took a painful 12-round bout on Saturday to make it official. Scull, a 32-year-old from Cuba, spent most of the championship bout dancing around the perimeter of the ring, throwing half-hearted jabs with very little weight behind them. Alvarez pursued Scull from bell to bell, but refused to aggressively open up more than necessary.

It turned into a very easy fight to score in Alvarez's favor, but a difficult one to watch.

"I don't like to fight those kinds of guys," Alvarez said. "They came to just survive to the final round. That's why I don't like to fight them. It won't be that kind of fight [against Crawford]. I hate that kind of fight. He moved even more than we thought. But it's OK. We won. We're here."

Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) offered little analysis of Alvarez's performance, only saying, "He did what he had to do to get the job done, for what was in front of him."