William Scull knocks out Vladimir Shishkin, winner of the vacant IBF super middle belt
Boxing: KUC Box-Promotion & Agon Boxing, Falkensee, 07.10.2023 William Scull (CUB) – Cristian Fabian Rios (ARG) © Torsten Helmke
William Scull won a near unanimous decision on Saturday over Vladimir Shishkin at the Stadthalle in Brandenburg, Germany to capture the vacant IBF super middleweight title.
The scores were 116-113, 116-112 and 115-113, all for Scull (23-0, 9 knockouts), a German based in Cuba who entered the fight as the no. 1 ranked IBF contender at 168 pounds. Shishkin (16-1, 10 KOs) from Stepnoe, Russia is coming off the first loss in his eight-year professional career.
Although the title belt was at stake, the fight lacked the matchup usually associated with Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, the pound for pound champion who once held the belt before vacating the title.
After a moderate pace through the first eleven rounds, the final began to pay off in the final round, as left hooks from Shishkin began to come through and hurt Scull, knocking him unconscious and holding the rest of the round. .
Shishkin entered the war rated no. 6 by The Ring at 168 pounds, and Scull will likely enter the rankings after not weighing in heading into the fight.
Skull, 32, now lives in Berlin, close to the battlefield.
In the co-main event, Dusan Veletic (9-1-1, 5 KOs) punched and outboxed his way to a unanimous decision win over Tomas Salek (22-6, 13 KOs) by scores of 98-92, 98-92 and 97-93. The fight was a slow-moving heavyweight fight, with Veletic from Loznica, Serbia via Bosnia and Herzegovina taking chances to stay while his Czech opponent threw his slow, repetitive punches.
