Boxing’s marquee attraction returns to the ring for the second time in 70 days as Canelo Alvarez takes on Avni Yildirim, live on DAZN.
Boxing’s pound-for-pound king and biggest star Canelo Alvarez steps into the ring on Saturday for the second time in 70 days, as he puts his WBA (Super) and WBC super middleweight titles against Avni Yildirim at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.
CANELO VS YILDIRIM
Alvarez (54-1-2, 36 KOs) fought on Dec. 19, domianting Callum Smith to win via unanimous decision and claim the WBA and WBC belts to become a four-division world champion. The 30-year-old wants to be more active in 2021 after only fighting one time in 2020. Yildirim is the WBC mandatory challenger, and Alvarez wants to get him out of t he way, so he can have a clear path to become the undisputed champion at 168 pounds.
“Avni Yildirim is a good boxer, and I know we will put on an exciting fight,” Canelo said in a press release. “I’m very glad that we are able to bring this event to Miami, a short distance from where my hero, Muhammad Ali, trained. February 27 will be a great night for the sport.”
Yildirim (21-2, 12 KOs) returns to action for the first time since losing to Anthony Dirrell via technical decision in a vacant WBC super middleweight fight back in February 2019. Dirrell suffered a cut due to an accidental headbutt in the 10th round, and the bout was stopped. It went to the judges, who declared Dirrell the winner on two of the three scorecards.
“I am honored as a mandatory to fight again for the big green belt — thank you to everyone who is involved,” Yildirim said. “I always give my all – and everybody should be ready to see a war. I am coming to make my country proud – I am representing the whole of Turkey.”