Sources: Canelo agrees to 2-fight deal with Matchroom, returns Feb. 27 vs. Yildirim

Fight will air on DAZN from Hard Rock Stadium in Miami

Unified super middleweight world champion Canelo Alvarez, boxing’s pound-for-pound king and the sport’s biggest star, will be back in action for the second time in a little over two months.

He will fight mandatory challenger Avni Yildirim on Feb. 27 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, where a limited number of spectators will be allowed, multiple sources told me on Wednesday.

Alvarez agreed to a two-fight deal with Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn, according to the sources, and the fight with Yildirim will be the first one. It will air on DAZN, which likely would also air the second bout of the deal on May 8 (Cinco de Mayo weekend), according to sources.

Alvarez just fought on Dec. 19, routing Callum Smith to win to take Smith’s Ring magazine and WBA titles and win the vacant WBC belt.

I wrote about it more in detail for the Ring magazine website. You can read that story here: https://www.ringtv.com/616517-canelo-alvarez-to-fight-avni-yildirim-on-feb-27-on-dazn/

Williams outpoints Solano in ‘ShoBox’ main event

Junior welterweight prospect Mykquan Williams ground out a tough unanimous decision over Yeis Solano in the main event of the 20th season opener of Showtime’s “ShoBox: The New Generation” on Wednesday night inside the bubble of the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut.

Williams (16-0-1, 7 KOs), 22, of East Hartford, Connecticut, defeated Solano (15-1, 10 KOs), 28, of Colombia, by scores of 97-92, 96-93 and 96-93.

While Solano was the more aggressive fighter, Williams neutralized the attack with his speed advantage and slick moves, and outlanded him 200-147, according to CompuBox statistics.

Williams cemented his win in the eighth round when he knocked Solano down with a right hand. It was the first knockdown of Solano’s career.

“The judges definitely got it right,” Williams said. “I thought I landed the bigger, sharper shots for sure. I let him do a little too much though. He was shooting that straight left a lot, but I was catching most of them. He didn’t land too much.

“I would give myself a seven or eight out of 10. I could have done a lot more. The first couple rounds were good but in the middle of the fight, I kind of let him back in. But I adjusted and picked it back up and got my second wind in the latter rounds.”

In the junior lightweight co-feature, southpaw Jose Nunez (11-0-2, 4 KOs), 22, of Panama, and Armenia native Aram Avagyan (10-0-2, 4 KOs), 30, boxed to a majority draw in an entertaining scrap. Two judges scored the bout 76-76 and one had it 77-75 for Nunez, who pulled out the draw by winning the eighth round on two scorecards.

“There was no justice tonight,” said Nunez, who believed he won the fight. “It’s not fair. I won the first four rounds and closed out the last one as well. I executed the game plan really well. I knew he was a tough opponent, so I needed to slow him down by attacking the body and that’s exactly what I did.

“I’m not interested in a rematch if it’s going to be another draw. It was a tough fight, but I already proved that I’m the better fighter. He was not the toughest opponent I’ve faced because the truth is that I feel like I won. At the very least, I very clearly won five rounds.”

Avagyan also felt he deserved the victory.

“I definitely did enough to get the win,” Avagyan said. “It doesn’t make sense to me. He never hurt me. I got hit with some body shots, but I blocked everything. Every big shot he threw he missed. I thought I fought a good fight and deserved the win. I’m not interested in a rematch if it’s going to be judged like that. If it’s going to be fair, then yes, I would fight him again.”

WBC honors Mayweather

The WBC announced on Wednesday that it will honor Floyd Mayweather, who won WBC world titles in five divisions from junior lightweight to junior middleweight, by placing a picture of him on each of its world title belts.

Mayweather will join Muhammad Ali and the late longtime WBC president Jose Sulaiman, whose images also appear in small frames on the strap of the sanctioning body’s world title belts.

“I’m honored to have the WBC include my likeness on their green and gold belts for eternity,” Mayweather said in a statement. “I remember the first time I won a WBC belt and saw the photos of the great champions on there and always wanted to be there too. It really is a dream come true for me to be alongside the great Ali and WBC founder Don Jose, and to be recognized by them for my contributions to the organization and the sport. I am beyond grateful to receive this honor. ”

Berchelt-Valdez update

As junior lightweight world titlist Miguel Berchelt and mandatory challenger Oscar Valdez, a former featherweight titlist, get ready for their much-anticipated showdown on Feb. 20 (ESPN) inside the bubble of the conference center at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, the Mexican countrymen  participated in their WBC-mandated 30-day weight check this week.

Both were inside the permissible weight with Berchelt weighing 142.8 pounds and Valdez weighing 142.6 pounds.

Berchelt (38-1, 34 KOs), 29, will be making his seventh title defense. Valdez (28-0, 22 KOs), 30, gave up his featherweight title, which he defended six times, to pursue a belt in a second weight division. He moved up to 130 pounds in late 2019 and has won both of his fights in the division.

Photo: Ed Mulholland/Matchroom Boxing