William Scull-Vladimir Shishkin IBF Title Fight Eyed For Oct. 19 In Falkansee, Germany

The one void left at super middleweight will be filled very soon.

The Ring has learned that a date was secured for the William Scull-Vladimir Shishkin vacant IBF 168-pound title fight. Their ordered clash will take place on Oct. 19 in Falkansee, Germany. The event will be a co-promotion between Agon Sports and Kuc Boxing.

Scull and Shishkin previously agreed to terms for a bout to claim the belt left behind by Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez (61-2-2, 39 knockouts). The title was dropped by Alvarez—The RING/WBA/WBC/WBO champ—for refusal to honor his mandatory versus Scull.

Heavyweight’s Dusan Veletic (8-1-1, 5 KOs) and Sanel Hasanovic (7-1-1, 6 KOs) will appear on the undercard. There is conflicting info as to whether they will be in separate bouts (as listed on BoxRec.com) or face each other.

Scull (22-0, 9 KOs) became the IBF mandatory challenger after a July 2022 unanimous decision win over Evgeny Shvendenko. He’s just three times since then, including a slot on the Alvarez-Jaime Munguia undercard in May.

The placement was intentional, as the expectation was for Alvarez to honor his mandatory soon thereafter. The IBF ordered the fight but talks never progressed. A purse bid hearing was canceled when the sanctioning body was informed that an agreement was reached.

That agreement turned out to be Alvarez moving on to a Sept. 14 date with WBA mandatory Edgar Berlanga (22-0, 17 KOs) and relinquishing the IBF title.

Scull and Shishkin (16-0, 10 KOs) were then ordered to enter talks. The threat of a purse bid surfaced. However, AGON Sports and Salita Promotions—representing Scull and Shishkin, respectively—were able to reach an agreement.

Shishkin, The Ring’s No. 5-rated super middleweight, became a contender after a Dec. 2022 decision win over former IBF titlist Jose Uzcategui (UD 12).