From the opening bell, Canelo Alvarez seemed destined for a knockout victory against mandatory challenger Avni Yildirim. Alvarez did not have to wait long for this.
Yildirim’s corner threw in the towel at the end of the third round, as Alvarez won a TKO win and kept his WBC and WBA super middleweight belts on Saturday night at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.
With the victory, Alvarez’s unification fight with WBO title holder Billy Joe Saunders is officially linked. Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn later said the fight is scheduled for May 8. The location has not yet been determined.
Alvarez (55-1-2) was the only fighter in the ring to press the action in the first three rounds. At the start of the fight, Alvarez threw hooks around Yildirim’s high guard and hit the body of the Turkish fighter.
And even in a fight against someone of Yildirim’s caliber, Alvarez displayed the ring’s acumen that cemented his status as one of boxing’s best weight-for-weight fighters. Instead of a hook, Alvarez ground Yildirim with a direct right with more than two minutes to go for the third round.
Yildirim (21-3, 12 KOs) survived the round, and even when he sat in his corner before the fourth round, he seemed to be in play for at least another three minutes. However, one of his training team members approached the apron and asked that the fight be stopped.