William Scull (23-0, 9 KOs) defeated Vladimir Shishkin (16-1, 10 KOs) by a 12-round unanimous decision to win the vacant IBF super middleweight title on Saturday night at the Stadthalle in Falkensee, Germany.
The scores
– 116-113
– 116-112
– 116-113
Boxing News 24 scored it for Shishkin 118-110. It was pretty one-sided, with Shishkin controlling every round and Scull doing a lot of holding. The referee did not warn or penalize Scull for throwing rabbit punches and hitting after the bell, which he did several times.
It’s unclear what the judges saw from Scull to give the decision because he wasn’t doing much other than holding and hitting Shishkin with clubbing shots while in the clinch. It was not pretty to look at.
Shishkin, 33, was the more active fighter, landing straight hands and initiating most of the offensive exchanges during the fight. The Cuban Scull was buzzed by a hard right hand from Shishkin in the 12th round and conveniently lost his mouth, which bought him valuable time to recover.
Shishkin lands a lot of clean right hands all night, but Scull takes them well due to his lack of power.
Neither fighter showed much power in their shots. Scull was throwing arm punches, but he had no power on his fists even when he loaded up on his punches.
Based on how Scull looks tonight, he won’t hold onto his IBF title for long unless it’s similar, judging by what we’ve seen here. Edgar Berlanga has expressed interest in fighting for the IBF belt, but whether he could make the IBF’s 10lb rehydration rule is questionable.
Berlanga is massive for the 168 lb division and would have trouble keeping his weight within the 10 lb rehydration limit after weigh in.
Eddie Hearn promoter Diego Pacheco, and is ranked #4 IBF. He has the kind of power that would be a major threat to Scull if he could get a title shot against him.
Last updated on 10/19/2024
