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.