Why is Canelo Alvarez fighting Avni Yildirim?
John Dennen considers what to make of Canelo Alvarez boxing Avni Yildirim this weekend in Miami
FIRSTLY, it should be said, Canelo Alvarez vs Avni Yildirim is not a fair fight. Alvarez is better than him in every department. The Mexican has a far higher skill level, better power, resilience, experience. Canelo has fought vastly better opposition. He’s beaten the world’s leading super-middleweight in Callum Smith, toppled light-heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev, unified middleweight titles against Danny Jacobs and that’s just his last three fights. Not to mention the 24 rounds he’s shared with Gennady Golovkin.
Leading trainer Gary Lockett has experienced more highs and lows than most. One of British boxing’s unsung heroes, he spoke to Oliver Fennell about everything from being lucky to death in the ring
MY social media feeds swell with mentions of Tyson and Jones Jnr; of bareknuckle brawls and boxing basketball players. Celebrity sells. Beef begets box office. Middle-aged men can charge pay-per-view for an exhibition. Pugilistic novices can create cults of online personality, and seemingly every big fight comes packaged with some potty-mouthed push-and-shove.
There seems little mainstream appetite for the story of a humble, hard-working and honest man, and certainly not for a self-proclaimed “realist”. Realism is irrelevant in an age when Jake Paul is calling out Canelo Alvarez and Mike Tyson does bigger numbers than Tyson Fury. But for me, a meeting with Gary Lockett offers a timely antidote to the madness.
Canelo Alvarez vs Callum Smith: The breakdown
AGE AND PHYSICAL EQUIPMENT
Alvarez: Canelo is 30 years old and has never looked stronger. Once upon a time he was a welterweight. He won his first world title at a catchweight below the super-welter limit in 2011. He was monstrously strong at 154lbs and is a natural middleweight. Yet in November of last year he was fighting up at light-heavy and stopping no less a foe than world champion Sergey Kovalev. The only question mark is what kind of a toll moving up in weight and back down to super-middle will have on his body. He has though yo-yo-ed up and down in weight before and seemingly thrived through it.