Canelo Álvarez v Avni Yıldırım: WBA/WBC super middleweight championship – live!

10.37pm EST 22:37

A team of cleaners in full hazmat suits has finished their work of sanitizing the ring and Michael Buffer is at the microphone for the announcements. The national anthems of Turkey, Mexico and the United States follow and finally the fighters are making their entrances. Here comes the Turkish challenger, wearing a white robe with red trim and pounding his heart with his right fist while saluting the crowd.

And now it’s Canelo’s turn. The overwhelming crowd (and betting) favorite makes his way to the squared circle as a full performance by South American reggaeton superstar J Balvin plays out on the stage. That’s what’s known in the business as a flex.

The ring at Hard Rock Stadium is sanitized prior to Saturday’s main event. Photograph: Michelle Farsi/Matchroom Boxing/AFP/Getty Images

10.13pm EST 22:13

Canelo’s unanimous-decision win over Callum Smith in December ended a 13-month inactive spell, but the 30-year-old from Guadalajara plans on keeping a much busier schedule in 2021. He’s widely expected to have already booked a 8 May unification bout with WBO titleholder Billy Joe Saunders. His promoter Eddie Hearn just hinted at it on the telecast, saying the announcement could come as soon as tonight.

“It has been talked about, but there is nothing concrete,” said Álvarez, who was rendered idle for most of 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic and a contract squabble. “First I want to go through this challenge and then explore what is next. But yes, we have had preliminary talks.

“I want to remain active. I enjoy what I do and work out in the gym. Fighting is my life. If everything goes well, we would like four fights this year.”

With a points over Callum Smith in December, Canelo Álvarez, above, became the fourth Mexican fighter to win titles in four weight classes, joining Juan Manuel Márquez, Érik Morales and Jorge Arce. Photograph: Ed Mulholland/AFP/Getty Images

Updated at 10.17pm EST

10.00pm EST 22:00

Hello and welcome to Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium for tonight’s super middleweight championship fight between Canelo Álvarez and Avni Yıldırım. It’s the second outing in 70 days for Álvarez, boxing’s biggest star, who is fresh off a one-sided points win over Britain’s Callum Smith to win the WBA and Ring super middleweight championships and vacant WBC super middleweight title.

Yıldırım (21-2, 12 KOs) is not expected to offer much resistance. The 29-year-old from Turkey, who hasn’t boxed since a technical decision loss to Anthony Dirrell two years ago, is going off as a 15-1 underdog and is only here because he’s the mandatory challenger to Álvarez’s WBC title.

For Álvarez (54-1-2, 36 KOs), there’s plenty of risk and little reward until he can move forward toward his goal of unifying the belts at 168lbs against the division’s other two champions: Britain’s Billy Joe Saunders, who owns the WBO title, and Caleb Plant, the unbeaten American who holds the IBF strap.

“I respect all fighters and the challenge I have in front of me,” Alvarez said this week. “I know what Yildirim brings. He is a strong fighter with plenty of desire to win. I come with the same mindset of winning, doing my job and continuing to make history.”

McWilliams Arroyo has just stopped late replacement Abraham Rodriguez in the fifth round to win the WBC flyweight interim title in the final undercard bout of the night, which means Álvarez and Yıldırım should be making their ringwalks shortly.