Mauricio Sulaiman Apologizes For Making Anvi Yildirim Mandatory Challenger To Canelo

WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman was apologetic after watching Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez dominate and stop his mandatory challenger Anvi Yildirim inside four rounds at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, Florida this past weekend.

‘Canelo’ dictated the fight from the opening bell and hit his opponent at will through the opening three rounds. The Mexican superstar scored a heavy knockdown in round three and Yildirim’s corner threw in the towel before round four was able to begin.

During a post-fight interview with Boxing Social, Sulaiman was full of regret having mandated a gross mismatch between the best fighter in boxing and someone coming off a loss who had no chance of winning.

“I’m sorry for Avni,” Sulaiman said. “The paper sometimes doesn’t reflect the actions, and it was very unfortunate. We had great expectations, and it’s a matter where we [at the WBC] need to look into the process that is not working in some roads.”

“Definitely, there are things that we have to go back and look at what is happening and how things evolve,” Sulaiman added. “As I say, [Canelo] was tremendously successful, he was in great shape, and that stage should have been for a much greater fight.”

Canelo is now booked to face WBO super middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders on May 8. A fight many expect to be much more competitive and move the pound-for-pound number one closer to unifying at 168lbs.

“Tremendous, he’s got a sight in unifying the whole division. That’s a process in how it begins, and we can see a very active year, and hopefully it’ll continue to be like that for Canelo and boxing. A tremendous match, it’s going to be a sensational fight,” Sulaiman said. (Transcribed by Boxing Scene)