Canelo Alvarez’s 2021 schedule appears to be falling into place.
The Athletic is reporting that promoter Eddie Hearn and Eddy Reynoso, Alvarez’s trainer and manager, are in talks for a February fight against Avni Yildirim and a May bout with Billy Joe Saunders on DAZN.
The Yildirim fight could take place on Feb. 27 in Guadalajara, Mexico, Alvarez’s hometown, according to reports.
Alvarez (54-1-2, 36 KOs) easily outpointed Callum Smith on Dec. 19 in San Antonio to take Smith’s WBA super middleweight title and win the vacant WBC belt. The WBC had ordered the winner of that bout to defend against Yildirim, the sanctioning body’s mandatory challenger.
Saunders (30-0, 14 KOs) is the WBO 168-pound titleholder. A victory over the Londoner would allow Alvarez to hold three of the four major belts. Caleb Plant holds the fourth belt (IBF).
Yildirim (21-2, 12 KOs) is coming off a 10th-round technical-decision loss to Anthony Dirrell in February of last year, meaning the Turk will have been out of the ring for two years if he fights Alvarez this February.
Saunders is coming off a near-shutout decision over Martin Murray on Dec. 4 in London.
Alvarez also presumably will fight again on Sept. 18, two days after Mexican Independence Day. Potential opponents are Plant and rival Gennadiy Golovkin, with whom he has drawn and won a decision.
