Canelo Alvarez is coming off a lopsided win over Callum Smith last Saturday, sending a fair warning to other fighters who may be next. And it appears the Mexican’s next fight will be in February according to WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman.

The WBC prexy told reporters that Alvarez intends to fight again in February in Mexico and it will be against Avni Yildirim, Boxingscene reported.

“When David Benavidez did not make weight [and was stripped of his title in August], Canelo Alvarez immediately contacted the WBC. He wanted to win the WBC super middleweight title,” said Sulaimán. “He wants to defend against the mandatory contender in Avni Yildirim at the beginning of the year. We’ll be in communication with him soon.”

   

It turns out that the Turkish boxer agreed to step aside for the Alvarez vs. Smith clash to push forward. However, the 29-year-old would be next in line to whoever would win last Dec. 19. And most know that this was Alvarez who could be too much for Yildirim to handle.

This means that a third fight with Gennady Golovkin or possibly revisiting a botched showdown with Billy Joe Saunders will have to wait. This scenario was already mentioned after Alvarez defeated Smith. The only way for the Mexican to jump on that is if he were to vacate the WBC belt. Canelo had no plans of doing that and will fulfill his obligations.

"We knew that if he won, he had to fight Avni. Either he'd fight him or he'd hand over the title. They know each other, they know who Avni is, because they spent several months in a training camp. Canelo is a very honest person who keeps his word, and he always said that he would fight Avni after this fight if he won,'' Cuban businessman Jose Perez said.

With the dominating performance of Alvarez, most are hardly giving the Turkish pug a chance in that title defense. But Perez begs to differ. He is confident that the Turk will come out with a better performance against the Mexican Brawler.

“Avni's going to give him a better fight, because he's a fighter. Avni's not going to box you for twelve rounds, he's going to rip your head off. That raises the level of the fight,” Perez stated.

Though Yildirim is a bit familiar with Alvarez’s style, he may need more than that to overcome the 30-year-old pug. Most saw Alvarez against Smith, a boxer who previously held an undefeated record.