- Álvarez faces Yıldırım in mandatory defense of WBC title at 168lbs
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Canelo’s unanimous-decision win over Callum Smith in December ended a 13-month inactive spell, but the 30-year-old from Guadalajara plans on keeping a much busier schedule in 2021. He’s widely expected to have already booked a 8 May unification bout with WBO titleholder Billy Joe Saunders. His promoter Eddie Hearn just hinted at it on the telecast, saying the announcement could come as soon as tonight.
“It has been talked about, but there is nothing concrete,” said Álvarez, who was rendered idle for most of 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic and a contract squabble. “First I want to go through this challenge and then explore what is next. But yes, we have had preliminary talks.
Hello and welcome to Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium for tonight’s super middleweight championship fight between Canelo Álvarez and Avni Yıldırım. It’s the second outing in 70 days for Álvarez, boxing’s biggest star, who is fresh off a one-sided points win over Britain’s Callum Smith to win the WBA and Ring super middleweight championships and vacant WBC super middleweight title.
Yıldırım (21-2, 12 KOs) is not expected to offer much resistance. The 29-year-old from Turkey, who hasn’t boxed since a technical decision loss to Anthony Dirrell two years ago, is going off as a 15-1 underdog and is only here because he’s the mandatory challenger to Álvarez’s WBC title.
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