Saúl Álvarez will make the first defense of his World Boxing Association (WBA) Super Middleweight Super Championship this Saturday against Turkey’s Avni Yildirim at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, Florida.

It will be the Mexican’s first fight in the city since 2008 when he fought Raúl Pinzón for the WBA Fedecentro title at the Miccosukee Indian Gaming Resort.

Miami is a city with large Latino presence and this makes the fight a little more special, as “Canelo” pointed out.

“I feel very motivated to be in Miami and have this fight,” said Canelo in a statement from Matchroom, “and give a great show to the people here because I’m not only representing Mexico, I’m representing all Latinos.”

“I like everything about Miami and I’m very happy to be here, it’s an honor to fight at the Hard Rock Stadium. I am feeling very excited, very happy, this is even more motivation for me. To open another door to have another home for my fights. I really feel very happy,” he continued.

There will be another ingredient in the fight and that is the presence of fans at the venue, while with limitations, it is great news for the fight and for boxing in general.

“They only let us put 15,000 people in because of the pandemic, but with that we are fine. Last time in San Antonio it was around 12,000 and the stadium sounded like it was full. Let’s hope that normalcy will arrive soon, and the stadium can be filled, but with 15,000 I feel very good, and if there were 1,000 it would be the same, the support of the people is incredible, and I feel very grateful,” said Álvarez.

Álvarez and Yildirim remain focused on the fight under the most extreme security measures for a major event like the one this Saturday night.