As the next challenger of Saúl “Canelo” Álvarez, the name of Avni Yildirim is resounding all over the world. People are wondering who the Turkish fighter that will step into the ring against the Mexican on February 27th in Miami is.

Nicknamed “Mr. Robot”, the Turkish fighter has a great record and has had good fights in his career. He is 29 years old and had already been a potential opponent for Canelo last year.

He comes from losing to Anthony Dirrell on a technical decision in his most recent fight in 2019. It was an close fight but an accidental headbutt that injured Dirrell forced to go to the scorecards in the 10th round to seal the victory for the American by close scores.

The Turk has only lost twice, that to Dirrell and previously a knockout loss to power puncher Chris Eubank Jr. in 2017. However, prior to his latest loss in special circumstances, he was on a five-fight winning streak and that is just the one that has earned him the opportunity to challenge for the WBA 168-pound super championship.

He has respectable punching power and is 9 centimeters taller than Alvarez, which is a situation he can use to his advantage. He is a right guard and makes up for his lack of speed with a neat boxing style and a good guard.

He comes into the fight with Canelo with a record of 21 wins, 2 losses and 12 wins by knockout.