Canelo Alvarez has his first assignment for Riyadh Season.

Saudi Arabian boxing promoter Turki Alalshikh made headlines this week when he announced that he’d signed Alvarez (62-2-2) to a four-fight contract, with the goal of setting up a superfight with the undefeated Terence Crawford while also blocking a reported matchup with Jake Paul.

On Saturday, Alalshikh tweeted that Alvarez has his first opponent, IBF super middleweight champion William Scull (23-0) on May 3 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

According to the announcement, Alvarez vs. Scull will be a unification bout, with Alvarez’s WBA, WBC, and WBO belts also on the line. Should Alvarez win, he is expected to defend his undisputed status against Crawford on a date still to be determined.

Alvarez’s Riyadh Season deal came amid a swirl of seemingly conflicting reports late Thursday evening, with ESPN initially reporting that a matchup between Alvarez and Paul was close to being finalized. However, Alalshikh later took to social media to announce the signing of Alvarez to an exclusive deal, with the plan for him to fight on Cinco de Mayo weekend, then Crawford in September, then close out his contract with a pair of fights in 2026.

Paul didn’t take the news lying down. After Alvarez released a video saying he was not actually going to accept a fight with a “f*cking YouTuber,” Paul fired back with receipts, showing an alleged bout agreement signed by Alvarez. He accused Alvarez of avoiding a fight with him and boasted that a fight between the two of them is bigger than any other matchup Alvarez can book.

As for Scull, he finally gets a chance to fight Alvarez after earning mandatory challenger status from the IBF in 2024. Alvarez declined to defend the title at the time, instead going on to fight Edgar Berlanga, while Scull won the then-vacated IBF title with a 12-round decision win over Vladimir Shishkin.