William Scull (left) lands a jab during his unanimous decision win over Vladimir Shishkin in their Oct. 19 vacant IBF super middleweight title fight in Falkansee, Germany.
Photo credit: Torsten Helmke, AGON Sports
One of the worst title fights of the year could somehow produce a sequel.
The Ring has confirmed that Vladimir Shishkin and his team seek to have his lone career defeat overturned. Shishkin lost a controversial decision to William Scull in their Oct. 19 vacant IBF super middleweight title fight in Falkansee, Germany. Scull won by scores of 116-112, 116-113 and 115-113, though most observers felt Shishkin was unlucky to not have his hand raised.
Shishkin is promoted by Salita Promotions. Both parties are legally represented by David Berlin, who filed a complaint on Monday to Bund Deutscher Berufsboxer, the presiding boxing commission in Germany. Shishkin’s team cited dodgy scoring by the judges and biased officiating by Berlin-based referee Olivier Brien.
Boxing News’ Keith Idec was the first to report the development.
Scull (23-0, 9 knockouts) was rewarded for his efficiency over Shishkin’s considerably higher punch output. Compubox’s unofficial statistics credited Scull with landing just 80-of-359 total punches (22.3 percent) in their dreadful 12-round fight. Shishkin (16-1, 10 KOs) landed 110-of-746 punches (14.8 percent). Hurtful to Shishkin’s case was that 70 percent of his punches were jabs (522), yet landed two fewer than Scull (44-to-42).
Shishkin landed 68-of-324 power punches (30.4 percent)—defined by Compubox as any punch that is not a jab. Scull was just 36-of-154 in this category (23.4 percent).
Several individual rounds were flagged as suspect.
Judge Rene Fiebig (Germany) scored the contest 116-113 for Scull. He scored the second round 10-10 and somehow awarded the twelfth to Scull, a round where the local boxer was rocked early in the round and frequently clinched down the stretch.
Judge Robert Hoyle (United States) was the lone official to score round eight for Scull. The three-minute frame saw Scull fail to land a single power punch (0-of-14) and just four total punches in the round. The fifth round was another outlier that saw Hoyle award a clear Shishkin round for Scull.
The official protest also cited the “gross incompetence” of the referee, particularly in the final round. Shortly after the two fighters were separated from a clinch, Scull intentionally spit out his mouthpiece. Not only was he not warned, but was awarded valuable time to recover after being hurt earlier in the round.
It is understandable for Shishkin and his team to claim injustice over the decision. However, official scores are rarely if ever overturned without proof of corruption. On the occasion when commissions and sanctioning bodies acknowledge officiating incompetence, it is normally met with light disciplinary action.
Shishkin’s team has a back-up plan in place. A request will be filed with the IBF to order an immediate rematch.
Scull and Shishkin were both regarded as mandatory challengers to the IBF super middleweight title. Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez (62-2-2, 39 KOs) previously held the belt—along with every other and The Ring championship at 168—but was stripped for failure to defend versus Scull.
Shishkin was granted the title shot as the IBF No. 2-rated contender. He defeated former titleholder Jose Uzcategui in a Dec. 2022 title elimination contest.
Scull earned his sanctioning body ranking with a twelve-round win over Evgeny Shvedenko that same year. Their July 2022 final eliminator was for the No. 1 spot.
Once the title was removed from Alvarez’s reign, the IBF ordered a Scull-Shishkin vacant title fight. A purse bid hearing was scheduled due to the lack of movement in the negotiation period. Salita Promotions was able to strike a deal with AGON Sports, Scull’s promoter, at the eleventh hour to avoid that process.
The next RING ratings update will see Scull and Shishkin land at No. 6 and No. 7, respectively, at super middleweight.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for The Ring and vice president of the Boxing Writers Association of America.
