Miami, Florida February 27th, 2021- Upset wasn’t in the vocabulary tonight as Saul “Canelo” Alvarez 55-1-2 37KOs did what was expected at the end of three rounds against WBC mandatory Avni Yildrim 21-3 12KOS.
One punch at a time Canelo picked apart the vastly outmatched “Turkish Wolf” Yildrim, dropping him with a one-two down the pipe in the third round. Yildrim trainer Joel Diaz had a moment of clarity, seeing reality and the events unfolding he waived to the referee from the corner between rounds to stop the fight before his fighter could be dismantled further possibly sustaining career changing damage in the process.
“It doesn’t matter if they are taller and have more reach or whether they have a good new trainer or no trainer, it doesn’t matter,”
Canelo Following his win over Avni Yildrim
The official end came at 3:00 of the third round with Canelo raising his hand to move forward with a plan already set-in motion.
During the post-fight interview the hype-video for Canelo’s next fight was already cued up on the big screen marking a unification for a third belt at Super Middleweight against the UK’s WBO Champion Billy Jo Saunders. Since his split with GoldenBoy Canelo has frequently mentioned his desire to become the first undisputed Super Middleweight Champion and the first to unify all the belts from Latin America.
“It doesn’t matter if they are taller and have more reach or whether they have a good new trainer or no trainer, it doesn’t matter,” said Alvarez. “I come here to do my job and win and I come to make history and I have the best trainer in the world [Eddy Reynoso] in my corner.”
Alvarez has already cemented himself as one of the great Mexican fighters in history, Avni Yildrim didn’t add to that legacy but it’s the forward progress with intent to unify that could put him in a class by himself. “I [want to unify] because it hasn’t been done. At 168, no one has done that in the world. I want to make history.”
An expected May 8th date with Billy Jo Saunders 30-0 14KOs during the hallowed boxing week of Cinco De Mayo could catapult him closer to achieving the goal of being the greatest Mexican fighter of all time.
“[Saunders] is a very difficult fighter and he has the championship, the WBO. We want to unify,” Alvarez answered when questioned about Saunders “People talk but I’m a mature fighter. I know how to control myself. All I have to do is get into the ring, win and make history. Words are just that.” Alvarez replied when asked about Saunders penchant for bad mouthing his opponents.
Under Card Results
– McWilliams Arroyo Stops Abraham Rodriguez in the fifth
– Zhilei Zhang MD vs Jerry Forrest
– Diego Pacheco wins UD over Rodolfo Gomez Jr.
– Marc Castro Stops John Moraga in the Second
– Aaron Aponte wins UD over Harry Gigliotti
– Keyshawn Davis KOs Lester Brown in two rounds
Alexis Espino Stops Ashton Sykes in the fifth
