Canelo Alvarez steps back into the ring on Saturday night to face Avni Yildirim. Of note about Canelo vs. Yildirim is that the bout is Canelo’s second appearance in three months after nearly a year away from the ring. Also of note, this is a mandatory title defense of Canelo’s WBC Super-middleweight title. Mandated by the WBC. If Canelo had passed it would have meant relinquishing his strap. Hardly a move to be made by a man whose goal is to unify all the titles.
That brings us to Canelo vs. Yildirim, a necessary evil you might say, needed in order for a larger unification bout between Canelo and WBO champion Billy Joe Saunders to occur. While the back story to Canelo vs. Yildirim may be more interesting than the actual fight itself, don’t sleep on it either. Why? Remember a tune up bout named Joshua vs. Ruiz I? We all know how that turned out. So while the odds are Canelo will be victorious tomorrow, one should not overlook Yildirim. Check out the preview of tomorrow nights bout here.