Brett OkamotoMay 3, 2025, 11:52 PM ET
- Brett Okamoto has reported on mixed martial arts and boxing at ESPN since 2010. He has covered all of the biggest events in combat sports during that time, including in-depth interviews and features with names such as Dana White, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Conor McGregor, Nate Diaz, Floyd Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao and Georges St-Pierre. He was also a producer on the 30 for 30 film: "Chuck and Tito," which looked back at the careers and rivalry of Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz. He lives in Las Vegas, and is an avid, below-average golfer in his spare time.
Canelo Alvarez is fighting outside Mexico and the U.S. for the first time in his career. The unified super middleweight champion travels to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to face William Scull on Saturday (DAZN PPV, 7 p.m. ET).
Alvarez (62-2-2, 39 KOs) is trying to become undisputed champion at 168 pounds for the second time in his career. With a victory, Alvarez will move on to face Terence Crawford in September.
Alvarez unified all four major super middleweight titles with an 11-round TKO over Caleb Plant in November 2021. He made four successful defenses before the IBF stripped him of the title when Alvarez decided to fight Edgar Berlanga instead of Scull, the mandatory challenger.
Scull (23-0, 9 KOs) fought Vladimir Shishkin in October for the vacant IBF title and won a controversial unanimous decision. Scull will be making his first title defense against Alvarez.
In the co-main event, Badou Jack defended his WBC cruiserweight title with a majority decision victory over Norair Mikaeljan. Jack (29-3-3, 17 KOs) was fighting for the first time in two years. His previous fight was a 12th-round TKO of Ilunga Junior Makabu to win the belt. Jack was scheduled to face Ryan Rozicki, but Rozicki was forced to withdraw in early April with an injury suffered during training.
Mikaeljan (27-3, 12 KOs), entered the fight as the WBC champion in recess, and was riding a four-fight winning streak following a decision loss to Mairis Briedis in November 2018.
Stay here for live updates, results and round-by-round analysis throughout the night.
Comments