It leaves no doubt to say that Avni Yıldırım has the grandest and toughest boxing match of his professional career up next- Canelo Álvarez.
Nonetheless, the mandatory challenger has full conviction that he will trouce the WBC and WBA (Super) super-middleweight champion of the world, if not for himself, for Turkey, his home country which stands with their stalwart boxer.
A former WBC International and WBC International Silver titleholder, Yıldırım had earned a chance to clinch the IBO super-middleweight belt back in October 2017 against Chris Eubank Jr. Unfortunately, the Turk was knocked out in the third round, which also marked the first defeat of his professional career.
Interestingly, this is not the first time Yıldırım contented for the green and gold belt. In February 2019, which was also the last time the pugilist was seen in the squared circle, Yıldırım faced Anthony Dirrell for the vacant WBC super-middleweight title. Another upset and the boxer failed to grab the belt, after a split TD.
Now, the coveted WBC belt is on the horizon once again for Yıldırım and also, the toughest opponent of his career, as squaring off with the pound for pound king Canelo won’t be an easy challenge.
Yıldırım eyeing a Canelo victory “with the prayers of the Turkish people”
All that being said, the “Turkish Wolf” has the support of his people behind him as he wants to make his country proud by doing the major upset to the Mexican maestro.
“It will be my chance to win the most important fight as the son of this country,” said Yildirim during a press conference in Istanbul on Thursday.
“I hope that we move forward with the prayers of the Turkish people,” the 29-year-old added.
“Since my last fight, I had some minor injuries, the pandemic affected me, but we were patient and we continued working,” Yıldırım recalled the Dirrell faceoff two years back, “I continued my training in the United States and Germany for 21 months outside my country. I did not give up.” (H/T BoxingScene)