Avni Yildirim faces his toughest test to date when he fights Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez for the WBC, WBA Super and Ring Magazine world super-middleweight titles in Florida on Saturday.
Wednesday 24 February 2021 15:35, UK
Avni Yildirim bids to shock the world when he challenges for Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez’s WBA and WBC super-middleweight titles at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens on Saturday night.
Yildirim's record doesn't suggest he'll pose much of a threat to Canelo, with the Turk having lost twice in 23 fights, including his last bout to Anthony Dirrell more than two years ago. He was also knocked out by Chris Eubank Jr.
Despite these setbacks, he's the mandatory challenger for the WBC strap.
Alvarez, meanwhile, produced one of his most dominant performances in December, defeating the previously unbeaten Callum Smith in Texas to unify the WBC and WBA belts.
Yildirim's manager Ahmet Oner is confident though that his fighter will have more success than Smith as he aims to cause the monster upset.
"The styles are different, Avni is more of a [Gennadiy] Golovkin-style fighter," he said.
"Avni also has an excellent jab and I believe he will try more. Callum Smith, in my opinion, did not try anything.
"Avni has a two-year break but he is, in my opinion, more fresh now. Never say no to a world title fight.
"We are going to give a good performance and I trust Avni."
Alvarez has beaten Golovkin, Daniel Jacobs and Sergey Kovalev on his way to becoming a four-weight world champion, cementing his status as the pound-for-pound king.
The Mexican is driven to become the first undisputed world super-middleweight champion, and a win over Yildirim would keep him on course for fights against WBO titleholder Billy Joe Saunders and Caleb Plant, who currently owns the IBF belt.
The 30-year-old is determined to put on a show for the limited crowd in what will be his first world title contest in Florida.
"I feel very motivated to be in Miami and have this fight," Canelo said. "And to put on a great show for the people there because I don't just represent Mexico, I represent all Latinos.
"I like everything about Miami and I am very happy to be here, it is an honour to fight at Hard Rock Stadium. I feel very excited, very happy, it's even more motivation for me.
"They only let us put 15,000 people in because of the pandemic, but with that we are fine.
"Let's hope that normalcy will arrive soon, and the stadium can be filled, but with 15,000 I feel very good, and if there were 1,000 it would be the same, the support of the people is incredible, and I feel very grateful."
Saunders defeated Martin Murray on points to retain his WBO belt in December, and the unbeaten Brit is expected to receive a unification clash in May, if Canelo overcomes Yildirim.
