(Photos - Ed Mulholland/Matchroom, Melina Pizano/Matchroom or Michelle Farsi)
Mexican superstar WBA/WBC super middleweight champion Saul "Canelo" Alvarez (55-1-2, 37 KOs) stopped his WBC mandatory challenger Avni Yildirim (21-3, 12 KOs) of Turkey in three rounds on Saturday night at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, Florida.
Canelo from the opening bell dominated landing hard shots on Yildirim. A hard right hand in the third dropped Yildirim as he got up, Canelo patiently attacked to finish the round. Yildirim could not continue as the fight was stopped at the end of round three.
With the win Canelo retains his titles and sets the stage for a May 8th unification bout with WBO super middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders of England.
Other Bouts
WBC interim flyweight champion, McWilliams Arroyo (21-4, 16 KOs) of Puerto Rico scored a fifth round TKO over late sub Abraham Rodriguez (27-3, 13 KOs) of Mexico. Rodriquez stepped in on two days’ notice as WBC champion Julio Cesar Martinez pulled out with an injury. Arroyo scored a knockdown in the fourth and finished him off in the fifth at 1:41.
Undefeated Chinese Zhilei “Big Bang” Zhang (22-0-1, 17 KOs) and Jerry Forrest (26-4-1, 20 KOs) battled it out a ten round draw in a highly competitive heavyweight bout. Zhang scored three knockdowns but that wasn't enough as Forrest rallied late finishing strong. Scores were 95-93 Forrest, 93-93, 93-93.
Unbeaten super middleweight Diego Pacheco (11-0, 8 KOs) of Los Angeles outpointed Rodolfo Gomez Jr (14-5-1, 10 KOs) over eight rounds. All three judges scored the bout 79-73.
Unbeaten super middleweight Alexis Espino (6-0, 4 KOs) stopped Ashton Sykes (5-4, 1 KO) in the fifth.
Hot super featherweight Marc Castro (2-0, 2 KOs) smoked late sub John Moraga (1-3, 1 KO) in two rounds