Highlights | Canelo Alvarez vs. Avni Yildirim
Feb. 27, 2021 -- Canelo Alvarez vs. Avni Yildirim from the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, Florida.
Video Transcript
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- It is now time for our tale of the tape for this main event for the WBC, WBA, and Ring Magazine Super Middleweight Championship of the world. Canelo Alvarez, 30-years-old, 5 foot 9, 70 and 1/2 inch reach. About the same as Avni Yildirim who's 29, but of course a vast difference in skill level.
- Canelo went constantly to the body against Rocky who did so against Callum Smith as well. Do you see that being his strategy tonight, Sergio?
- Absolutely, but he's going to start it off with the uppercuts to get those elbows up just like he did there. Uppercuts and body shots is what you can expect from Canelo. That's exactly what Yildirim is susceptible to.
- Yildirim being a little bit more patient than perhaps we thought.
- More reserved and docile, that's for sure. He came out wanting to shake hands. And he normally starts off real aggressively. He's dropped fighters before really early.
- I'm not sure he's landed a punch yet. Right on the beltline goes Canelo and again with the right hand. Waiting for Yildirim to engage.
- Maybe this is part of the game plan that Joel Diaz was talking about. We all expected, I'm sure including Canelo, for Yildirim to come out really aggressive. That's his style. He's rugged. And he puts pressure in there. Maybe this is the strategy that they're implementing.
- Yeah, part of the reason he's called-- or was called Mr. Robot is that he keeps that guard really high. And you can see early on in the spike, Canelo has aggressively targeted the midsection.
- Let's see if Yildirim is going to let that right hand go. So far it's been a jab fest from the Turkish Wolf.
- You know, it's one thing to have a right hand. But like what we saw with Sergei Kovalev, letting it go leaves yourself exposed. So even if a fighter goes in with that as part of their plan, they're not going to throw it if they know something big is coming back.
And one of the things you worry about with Yildirim based on past significant fights is he gets hit with a lot of power shots, almost 15 per round according to CompuBox.
- Nice uppercut with the right hand for Canelo.
- That's one. Anthony Dirrell landed 43% of his power punches. Chris Eubank landed 51% of his power punches.
- [INAUDIBLE] the left uppercut. Yildirim's got to get busy. It's target practice right now for Canelo. And it's a stationary target. Boy, he wants that left hook to deliver. Doesn't he?
- Yildirim is not letting his punches go. That's only going to encourage Canelo to let his hands fly. He has the faster punches and he's more explosive.
- Again, uppercut, right hand. Yildirim does not answer back.
- You could see that Canelo's looking for those uppercuts, left and right.
- You think that's an early game plan or just something he's learning on the fly that those are the punches that are landing?
- No, he saw Anthony Dirrell fight Yildirim. He knows exactly that's the punch that's going to land, especially when you have a high guard like Yildirim does.
- Eddy Reynoso is one of the best strategists in boxing. It's clear that he is looking hard at that body and saying it is available to you every single time.
- We do know Yildirim is very tough, has a lot of heart. He'll stick around for a while. But how much longer can he stick around if he just keeps ignoring all these uppercuts and bodyshots?
- That was a vicious left hook to deliver by Canelo. Right at the beltline. And there was the right hand. A swing and a miss and Canelo gave him the receipt.
- You can see that right hand of Yildirim dipping up and down as Canelo continues to land those lefts to the body.
- That right hand from Yildirim scored.
- Those are vicious body punches. Even though Yildirim is blocking those shots believing--
- Oh, and a one-two! And down goes Yildirim!
- 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.
- He's trying to laugh it off.
- The fastest knockout Canelo has had in the last 10 years with James Kirkland into the third round. Can he beat it tonight?
- He senses the end. Downstairs, upstairs, Yildirim not firing back. Look at Canelo just piecing him apart. There is a counter left, finally, from Anvi Yildirim. Yildirim is hurt to the body. Canelo should keep digging, doubling up downstairs. And again, the strait right.
- That shot hurt Yildirim again. Yildirim is hurt to the body.
- They said they were going to pressure Canelo. They were going to get him out of his comfort zone. They were going to put him on his back foot. None of those things have happened.
- If Canelo doubles up on one side of the body Yildirim will go down again. He's hurt.
- All 15,000 seats available have been sold here at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, Florida.
- You know, Sergio, we talked about how guys tend to revert back to what they know when they get into a firefight. This looks a lot like the Yildirim I saw against Chris Eubank, getting in tight and not throwing any punches back when you get clipped.
- And he's letting Canelo sit down on these punches, Sergio.
- Well, as a bigger man he's allowed to let Canelo get a little bit of rest if he can endure those punches. But I haven't seen any kind of resistance from Yildirim, no offense.
- Maybe he needs to turn back into Mr. Robot.
- Yes, he does. Maybe he does.
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- You all right? I'm going to give you one more round, Anvi. If I don't see you work I'm going to stop you. I'm telling you, you got hit.
- And now we're going to see Canelo turn the right hand just to penetrate the glove of Anvi Yildirim perfectly right on the money.
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- And that's the problem with that type of defense right there. You block your peripheral vision and punches like that land.
- The only take away you can have-- and there, it's over.
- They have stopped the fight. It's over. No más from Anvi Yildirim. And this was just a pound-for-pound beat down by Canelo Alvarez. The moment was too big and the lights were too bright for Anvi Yildirim. He did the talking. He did not do the walking.
- Yeah, the new and improved Anvi Yildirim was just new.
