Avni Yildirim: Who is Canelo Alvarez next opponent?

After CaneloAlvarez‘sprevious good boxing fight two months ago, the Mexicanis back and heintends to become thesuper middleweight championin 2021. However, what he needs to dofirst is to pass the obligatory challenge of Turkish fighter Avni Yildirim.

The defending champion Alvarezis the major favorite of the fight so he needs to be mindful of potential and unwanted slipif he underestimates the power of Yildirim. A disruptive defeat will scupper his whole mission and bring him less ranking points by the media.

On Saturday, February 27, the battle card of Canelo Alvarez vsAvni Yildirim will commence from 10:00 PM(ET). But first, let’s take a closer and detailed look at Alvarez’s opponent,Yildirim.

Avni Yildirim: Who is Canelo Alvarez next opponent?

The 29-year-oldYildirim,who was born onAugust 5, 1991, and haslived in Turkey ever since his birth, is a former prolific amateur, managing a record of 120-12 in his country. Hebecame their national champion five times. He also won bronze in the MediterraneanChampionships and featured for Turkey at the 2013 Kazakhstan World Championships.

There, he lostin the second round. However, that defeat inspired him tobecome a professional boxer.Yildirim made his professional debut onMarch 22, 2014, when he won by points against Davit Ribakoni. It was a sign of a great start ofYildirim’s career, having gone onan outstanding runof 16-0, 10 of those won by knockouts.

Then he joined the World Boxing Super Series for the first season where, in October 2017, he fought Chris Eubank Jr. in the opening fight. Eubank dominated the Turkwith pace and strengthin the third round and gave Yildirim his first professionalloss. The upset only improved Avni, who then managed five successive triumphs over the course of 11 months only to prepare to face Anthony Dirrell for the WBC title while took place in February 2019.

Yildirim didn’t get off to a great start, but he improved significantly in the second half of the fight. However, eventually, he lost the fight due to atechnical decision after he unintentionally headbuttedDirrell, causing the American boxer to suffer a cut. Yildirim took the points, but that still didn’t helphim to win.

Thus, Avni Yildirim’s current fightingrecord stands at 21 wins,2 defeats, and 0 draws. 12 out of the 21 victories have happened after a knockout, helping his current knockout ratio stand at57%. He suffered a knockout defeat only once of the two times he has lost so far.He has played 132 rounds in the ring, meaning that his professional battles last an average of 5.7 rounds. He uses a normaltradition of battling, meaninghe prefers tofights with his right hand as his control hand.