Canelo vs Callum Smith on Dec 19th

[Master]

Canelo Alvarez vs Avni Yildirim is reportedly now a done deal for February 27, with Eddie Hearn set to promote the fight on DAZN.

The Mexican superstar will defend his WBA and WBC super-middleweight world titles against the Turkish WBC mandatory challenger, who many believe will be vastly overmatched in the bout.

According to The Athletic, the fight is set to take place on February 27 at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.

Negotiations are underway for Canelo to potentially face WBO champion Billy Joe Saunders after this.

The super-middleweights previously agreed terms to meet last May, but the pandemic ruined these plans.

They were unable to resurrect a deal for later in 2020 and so both men instead returned in separate fights in December.

Canelo secured his free agency and teamed up with Hearn for the Callum Smith fight, which he won to claim the WBA and WBC belts.

Two weeks prior, Saunders defended his WBO belt by defeating Martin Murray.

Now, the Mexican will make a quick return to get his WBC mandatory Yildirim out of the way on February 27, before pursuing the other belts in his weight division.

This puts Saunders firmly in the firing line, as well as IBF champion Caleb Plant.

The Saunders bout will only be finalised if Billy Joe agrees terms.

Regarding this, Hearn told The Athletic’s Pug and Copp Podcast: “The path is really clear for Billy Joe Saunders to fight Canelo Alvarez.

“We’ve just got to try and agree a deal with him to do that.

“We are at a stage now where we don’t have the guarantees of the major gates and a lot of fighters are taking less money.

“That’s not really a conversation that you enjoy having with Billy Joe Saunders.

“He feels that he can win the fight, but he also wants to be rewarded for the fight, I understand.

“So we’ve got to try and reach a deal with him, which we’re close to doing.

“He really needs that fight too, but he’s not just gonna take it by any means necessary.

“But if Billy believes he wins that fight, which I believe he thinks he does, and I think he’s got a great shot in the fight, then he needs to take the opportunity.

“Hopefully we can get him over the line for that fight on Cinco de Mayo weekend.”

https://talksport.com/sport/boxing/8...m-eddie-hearn/

[Spicoli]

Didn't Yildirimguy lose to Dirrell? Benavidez is listed as his mandatory best I can tell. I will say all in favor of the activity level but this is a blowout.

[TitoFan]

Didn't Yildirimguy lose to Dirrell? Benavidez is listed as his mandatory best I can tell. I will say all in favor of the activity level but this is a blowout.

It's a nothing fight. At least this time even they haven't tried to hype it as anything but that.

[TIC]

nice quick turn around for canelo. big knockout coming up then back to bigger things