The venue for the fight is Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, Florida, despite the idea that it was in Mexico at the time.
The four-time world champion Saúl ‘Canelo’ Álvarez (54-1-2, 36 Ko’s) made his return to the ring official for February 27 to make the World Boxing Council Super Middle Championship mandatory defense against mandatory challenger Avni Yildirim (21-2, 12 Ko’s), a 28-year-old Turk who came very close to wearing this same crown right in his most recent fight when he controversially fell to Anthony Dirrell.
The battle headquarters, despite the intentions of ‘Canelo’ Álvarez and his manager and coach, Eddy Reynoso, to do so on Mexican territory, will finally be in a building on American soil.. It was thought to be Dallas, San Antonio, or Houston in Texas, but Hard Rock Stadium Miami, Florida appeared as the confirmed venue.
It will be the first of three or four battles ‘Canelo’ Álvarez and his team have planned for 2021, after becoming free agents in the last quarter of 2020. For the weekend of May 5, as long as there is no setback against Yildirim, a new battle for Saúl is scheduled against Billy Joe Saunders.
Recognized as the Boxer of the Year 2020 by the World Boxing Association and the World Boxing Council, ‘Canelo’ stems from the authority defeating British Callum Smith on December 19, undefeated by unanimous decision in front of 11,500 fans at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.
This will be the eighteenth champion fight for the Mexican fighter, who in 2019 became the fourth tricolor fighter to win world titles in four different categories, alongside characters like Érik ‘Terrible’ Morales, Juan Manuel ‘Dinamita’ Márquez and Jorge ‘Naughty’ Arce. Later Leo ‘El Famoso Terremoto’ Santa Cruz was added to the selection list.
Yildirim will be holding his second championship fight after a controversial loss to Anthony Dirrell in February 2019 to the vacant WBC super middleweight belt. The Turk has not entered the ring since then pending the opportunity. In another high-profile fight for the Turk, against Chris Eubank for the International Boxing Organization Championship, he was eliminated in three rounds.