Canelo Alvarez vs. William Scull full fight card official with 6 bouts, Martin Bakole's return
In the co-feature, Jaime Munguia gets an immediate shot at redemption in a rematch with France's Bruno Surace.
Munguia (44-2, 35 KOs) was seemingly miles ahead on the scorecards this past December when he was brutally knocked out by Surace in the sixth round in a major upset. Surace (26-0, 5 KOs) was priced as high as a 12-to-1 underdog by BetMGM bookmakers when he tore up the script in Munguia's Tijuana homecoming.
Also on the Alvarez vs. Scull undercard, Martin Bakole clashes with Efe Ajagba in a heavyweight contest.
Bakole (21-1, 16 KOs) was ordered to face Ajagba (20-1, 14 KOs) by the IBF as a final eliminator for Daniel Dubois' world title until he stepped in as a short-notice replacement for Dubois on the Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol 2 undercard in February to face Joseph Parker. Bakole was knocked out in the second round by Parker, and as a result the IBF rescinded its order for Bakole vs. Ajagba, so it will not be a final eliminator bout when the pair clash in May.
Bakole earned the best win of his career — a fifth-round knockout of American heavyweight Jared Anderson — prior to faltering against Parker. Ajagba was last in action when he edged Guido Vianello by split decision this past April. The Nigerian will end a 12-month layoff when he faces Bakole.
Additionally, Badou Jack defends his WBC cruiserweight title against his mandatory challenger Ryan Rozicki on the Alvarez vs. Scull lineup.
Jack (28-3-3, 17 KOs), a three-division world champion, hasn't boxed in almost two years. His most recent in-ring appearance came when he won the WBC cruiserweight championship with a 12th-round stoppage win over Ilunga Makabu in February 2023.
Rozicki (20-1-1, 19 KOs) is on an eight-fight win streak since dropping a unanimous decision to Oscar Rivas in 2021 for the WBC bridgerweight belt. In his most recent outing, the Canadian fought to a draw against Yamil Alberto Peralta, whom he previously defeated by split decision.
Rounding out the card, 2024 Olympic silver medalist Marco Verde (0-0) makes his professional debut against Michel Galvan Polina (4-5-3, 2 KOs) and Brayan Leon (6-0, 6 KOs) battles Aaron Rocha Guerrero (11-3-1, 7 KOs) in a light heavyweight contest.
Undisputed super middleweight title: Saul "Canelo" Alvarez vs. William Scull
Super middleweight: Jaime Munguia vs. Bruno Surace 2
Heavyweight: Martin Bakole vs. Efe Ajagba
WBC cruiserweight title: Badou Jack vs. Ryan Rozicki
Middleweight: Marco Verde vs. Michel Polina
Light heavyweight: Brayan Leon vs. Aaron Guerrero
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San Francisco Chronicle
28 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Olympic Club will keep S.F. in national golf spotlight, even without U.S. Open
The Olympic Club will crown another national champion Sunday. This year's U.S. Amateur winner will hoist the Havemeyer Trophy, and then San Francisco's most storied golf course will turn toward a curious future. Marquee events are still on tap, but with a fresh twist. Olympic's Lake Course, long associated with the U.S. Open, pivots down a fresh path in hosting the 2028 PGA Championship and the Ryder Cup five years later. The club carries the torch for San Francisco golf, a city with rich history in the game. In some ways, this stretches beyond golf. The 125th U.S. Amateur, which wraps up a weeklong run with semifinal matches Saturday and the 36-hole title match Sunday, brought national television coverage this week – not only of the course but also featuring familiar and picturesque (if cloud-covered) shots of the city. Malia Lyle, president of the Olympic Club, pointed to the value of this TV exposure in conversations earlier this year with Mayor Daniel Lurie. 'This is a commercial for San Francisco and the Bay Area,' Lyle said Thursday. 'It's a great opportunity to showcase not just San Francisco golf, but the city and the Bay Area in general … a chance to say we're getting back to where we were before (the pandemic). It's still beautiful.' The biggest showcase is the U.S. Open, which Olympic has hosted five times dating to 1955. But the club shifted gears in agreeing to hold the PGA Championship and Ryder Cup, a decision driven mostly by the profitability of those events (especially the Ryder Cup). Lyle was candid about the financial disparity, saying, 'The revenue gained from a PGA of America event helps offset some of the costs associated with USGA events. Despite it being an honor, we're not making money on the Amateur.' Even so, the club recognizes the prestige of holding the U.S. Open, the USGA's crown jewel. The organization has named future Open venues through 2042 – that's no misprint – and one of their anchor sites is Pebble Beach, only two hours down the coast. But Olympic Club officials remain interested in eventually climbing back into the mix, as they've expressed to the USGA in recent meetings. 'We've made it clear we would love to host a future U.S. Open,' Lyle said. That's unlikely anytime soon, given the USGA's commitments in the years ahead. Olympic will host the U.S. Women's Amateur in 2030, and it's possible the U.S. Women's Open – held on the Lake Course for the first time in 2021 – could return later in the '30s, after the Ryder Cup. The men's Open becomes a trickier proposition. 'There's so much great golf history here, we would always want a long-term relationship with the Olympic Club,' said John Bodenhamer, the USGA's chief championships officer. As for the U.S. Open specifically, he added, 'It's going to be a while. For a women's Open, it could be much sooner.' This conversation unfolds as Harding Park, the well-regarded public course across Lake Merced from Olympic, has fallen off the radar for marquee tournaments. Harding hosted four PGA Tour events from 2005-20, including one won by Tiger Woods and the course's first major (Collin Morikawa captured the 2020 PGA Championship). Harding now has no Tour events on the calendar, partly because of the complications of preparing a public track for a high-profile tournament. That leaves the Olympic Club as San Francisco's best bet. USGA officials tend to embrace California venues, because they offer reliable weather and allow television networks to push coverage into prime time in the East (think: higher ratings). Thursday's telecast of the Amateur went until 10 p.m. ET, and so will Sunday's coverage of the championship match. 'Our broadcast partners love being on the West Coast,' Bodenhamer said. 'If it were up to them, we'd be on the West Coast every year.' They're here now, on a course with history at every turn. Olympic's Lake Course is where Jack Fleck stunned Ben Hogan in the 1955 U.S. Open, Billy Casper chased down Arnold Palmer in 1966 and Scott Simpson ('87), Lee Janzen ('98) and Webb Simpson (2012) also won America's national championship. That tradition provides context for this year's Amateur. There has been much chatter about the Lake Course's thick rough, similar to what U.S. Open competitors have confronted in the past. One photo at the Olympic Club famously shows Hogan chopping it out of crazy-tall rough alongside No. 18 in the '55 Open. USGA executive Ben Kimball figures the picture offers a relevant lesson for today's young players. 'If anybody wants to talk more about the rough,' Kimball said, 'I could send them down to the champions' bar (where the photo is displayed) and say, 'Look what Hogan had to do.''
Boston Globe
an hour ago
- Boston Globe
Braintree team falls in first game of Little League World Series
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Chicago Tribune
an hour ago
- Chicago Tribune
Owen Caissie makes ‘surreal' MLB debut, but Chicago Cubs waste Matthew Boyd's strong start in 2-1 loss
TORONTO — Minutes before his major-league debut in the ballpark about 35 miles from his high school against the team he grew up rooting for, Owen Caissie stretched by himself along the right-field line at the Rogers Centre. The whirlwind journey to get him from Des Moines, Iowa, to Toronto in time for Thursday's 3:07 p.m. start was cutting it close enough that Chicago Cubs manager Craig Counsell wanted to make sure he would get there in time before officially locking him in batting fifth as the designated hitter in a 2-1 loss to the Blue Jays. Even the Canadian's parents made it to the stadium from their Burlington, Ontario, home before the Cubs top prospect arrived roughly 90 minutes before first pitch. Caissie had enough time to get some swings in the cage before stepping into the box against future Hall of Famer Max Scherzer. When Caissie called his parents to share the news of the call-up Wednesday night, he mentioned to his mom that Scherzer would be starting for the Blue Jays. That tidbit elicited a look of 'good luck!' on his mom's face. Caissie was 5 years, 9 months old when Scherzer made his MLB debut. 'I felt good, took a couple good swings, but it was pretty cool,' Caissie said. The 23-year-old slugger nearly recorded his first big-league hit on the first pitch he saw. He went the opposite way on Scherzer's fastball that took an all-out diving catch by Blue Jays left fielder Davis Schneider to rob Caissie of an extra-base hit. Caissie, who finished 0-for-4 with a strikeout, called it a 'welcome to the league' moment. 'It was surreal,' Caissie said. 'Growing up watching Blue Jays, I'm just super thankful that the Cubs could make my debut happen but not only about my debut but in front of the Canadian people that I cherish so much. I'm super excited and got to keep rolling, hopefully get some more W's along the road.' The series finale quickly turned into a pitchers' duel between Scherzer and left-hander Matthew Boyd. Michael Busch homered in a second consecutive game to put the Cubs up 1-0 in the sixth, though it wouldn't hold up long. Boyd's only mistakes came against two of the first three Blue Jays hitters in the seventh. He issued a leadoff walk, his only of the day, and left an 0-2 curveball too much in the zone to Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who slugged it for the go-ahead two-run home run. Boyd allowed only two hits in seven innings, striking out five. Caissie's arrival won't suddenly cure the Cubs' continued struggles to come through with runners in scoring position. The Cubs (68-52) finished 0-for-8 in such situations Thursday while leaving seven on base. Twice in the late innings they wasted prime scoring opportunities by failing to even put the ball in play. The Cubs got the first two on in the eighth trailing by a run, but with runners at second and third, the next three hitters — Ian Happ, Kyle Tucker and Carson Kelly — struck out. All three outs in the ninth also came on strikeouts with Willi Castro and Dansby Swanson whiffing to strand Nico Hoerner. 'We had a bunch of warning-track balls but just couldn't get any kind of offense, couldn't get an inning going, really at all,' Counsell said. 'We just didn't get the job done, simple as that.' The Cubs fell eight games behind the first-place Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Central. Caissie's big-league arrival is the culmination of nearly five years in the organization dating to when he became the standout piece in the multiplayer trade that sent Yu Darvish to the San Diego Padres in December 2020. Counsell isn't sure Caissie will have a big role while he's in the majors — their outfielders have remained so healthy this season that this is the first time they brought up an outfielder from Triple A — but this stretch of the schedule felt like a chance for the Cubs to be more flexible with their roster. Miguel Amaya's left ankle sprain and subsequent move to the injured list Thursday created the opportunity for the Cubs to see what Caissie can do after delivering a .289 average, .389 on-base percentage and .955 OPS in 93 games for Iowa. 'He hits the ball extremely hard,' Counsell said. 'I think he's going to hit a lot of home runs someday — he's not a home run hitter right now. He's just a good all-around hitter, good plate discipline.' Over the last six weeks, Caissie's in-zone contact has improved and with it a notable decrease in his whiff rate. His steady rise through the minors at such a young age, often one of if not the youngest player at the level, meant repeating at Iowa this year. Counsell noted how that's usually not the typical path for a prospect, but it's 'really a credit because Owen got to Triple A so young and so quickly.' 'Just to keep going and for a season to keep getting better is a great sign for his drive and his commitment and dedication and his hunger, really,' Counsell said. 'He's earned this promotion, and we're all really happy for him.' Caissie became the fourth Cub to make his big-league debut this year at 23 or younger, joining right-hander Cade Horton, third baseman Matt Shaw and catcher/DH Moisés Ballesteros. 'To be a healthy organization, you need to have young players ready to step up and contribute,' assistant general manager and former farm director Jared Banner said Thursday. 'So I think it's a sign of our organizational health, and it's a sign of a player development group that's doing a really good job getting guys ready.'
