Canelo Álvarez broke his year-long hiatus last December by clinching the WBC and WBA (Super) super middleweight titles with a victory over Callum Smith.
Just two months later, the Mexican maestro will be back in the squared circle again, defending his belts against Avni Yıldırım on 27th February.
From pundits to the fans alike, everyone knows the favorite and the underdog of the fight, because taking on the number one P4P boxer in the world is a mountain to climb for any opponent, and Canelo himself acknowledges his superiority over Yıldırım.
All that being said, the world champion is no way taking the confident Turkish fighter lightly, who has already insisted that squaring off against Canelo is “the most important fight as the son of this country.”
It’s not in me to underestimate anyone: Canelo
Recently, Yıldırım’s team asserted that Canelo has been underestimating his opponent, however, the boxer himself denied such claims.
“None of that [is happening], I do feel superior and I am superior to Yıldırım,” Canelo told George Ebro, “but I’m training like it’s my biggest fight and I’m not underestimating him at all. I know this is boxing and one punch can change everything. It’s not in me to underestimate anyone.”
Set to return after almost two years, Yıldırım has earned himself a second straight WBC title fight, the green and gold belt which he failed to clinch back in 2019 February against Anthony Dirrell.
While this time the Turk serves as the underdog once again as the boxing fandom vouches for Canelo, the superstar himself acknowledges that and sheds praise on Yıldırım.
“I’m not going to deny the favoritism [for me], but boxing is very complicated and I do think Yildirim will be a good opponent, the 30 year old went on, “He’s a good boxer and I think we’re going to make an exciting fight for the audience who are going to attend the event that night and for those who will follow the fight on television.” (H/T BoxingScene)
