Avni Yildirim coach Joel Diaz knows they need a knockout to win!
In his next assignment, Turkish super middleweight Avni “Mr. Robot” Yildirim (21-2, 12 KO’s) will face boxing’s resident poster boy. As a result, he is well aware that the deck is stacked against him. To begin, his opponent is the fantastically skilled WBA Super and WBC World Super Middleweight champion, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (54-1-2, 36 KO’s). Not only is the redhead a physically gifted fighter, Canelo maintains an almost heavenly protection on the scorecards.
Way back on September 14, 2013, although in a losing effort, Alvarez received a quizzical draw from judge CJ Ross. Not only was he not the phenomenon he is now, Canelo was in against the boxing cash cow of the time, Floyd “Money” Mayweather. Still, even after being tossed a beating and harsh boxing lesson, he was given that gift. Later, many believed that the redhead should have lost to Erislandy Lara and Gennady “GGG” Golovkin. Despite being out-boxed and out-worked, once again Canelo was blessed with favorable scoring. Unlike the Mayweather encounter however, this time he walked away with the victories.
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As a student of the game, Yildirim’s chief second, Joel Diaz, is well briefed on this history. He knows that when he and his fighter go into battle, they are heavy underdogs. Yet, being that he does not shy away from challenges, Diaz is eager to engage this next battle, as he told Boxing Social!
“It’s common sense. The boxing fans, the boxing analysts know that Canelo Alvarez, being the great fighter that he is, a smart fighter with such great ability, you know if we go the distance it won’t be good for us. So we have to look for the fight! We have to approach the fight looking for a good fight where maybe we can hurt Canelo and we are going to go in for the attack. If we are not successful, then we are at least going to put up a great fight because we cannot leave the fight to the judges. That will not favor us!”
ONE TOUGH OUT!
Sure, Diaz is wary of letting the fight go to the scorecards, as well he should be! Yet, at the same time, he realizes that simply formulating a plan for such a dynamic adversary is no easy task.
“You know what? Canelo hardly has weaknesses because he is in his prime! He’s at the top of the game right now. To spot weaknesses in Canelo is hard because he is very smart, very slick, great reflex, he has power in both hands. So basically, you know, putting up a plan against him is hard but it’s not impossible. We have already put in the work ourselves and now we are going to put into play on Saturday night.”
It will be fun and intriguing to see what game plan Diaz and Yildirim can come up with. Can they pull off the unlikely upset, or will Mr. Robot get melted into scrap metal?
By: Bakari Simpson
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