Anthony Dirrell: record, next fight and profile →
Former WBC super middleweight world champion David Benavidez, 22-years-old, already has dreams of entering the International Boxing Hall of Fame. Benavidez made his first visit to the IBHOF last weekend in Canastota, New York. His promoter Sampson Lewkowicz was at his side.
WBC super middleweight champion Anthony Dirrell is not going to fight again until the fall. Dirrell reclaimed the vacant WBC title with a technical split decision over Avni Yildrim, back in February at the Minneapolis Armory in Minnesota.
WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman, Arena Box Promotion Chairman Ahmet Oner, who manages Avni Yildirim’s career and Turkish fighter himself participated to press conference in Istanbul Turkey. After controversial Dirrell vs Yildirim WBC title bout in February, Yildirim’s side had appealed to WBC for an immediate rematch. David Benavidez’s promoter Sampson Lewkowicz also gave his opinion about triple agreement.
One month after filing an appeal for a second straight title shot, Avni Yildirim and his team gladly settled for the next best scenario. Efforts to secure an immediate rematch with Anthony Dirrell—whom outpointed Yildirim via technical decision to win the World Boxing Council (WBC) 168-pound title this past February—was met with an alternate solution from the sanctioning body on Monday.
WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman, from Mexico, held a press conference at the Ciragan palace in which the WBC super middleweight division ruling has been set. WBC champion Anthony Dirrell has been ordered to fight the WBC champion in recess, David Benavidez, and Avni Yildirim would be participating on the same card against an opponent to be named.
AT&T Stadium, Arlington, Texas - In the co-main event, unbeaten former 168-pound world champion David Benavidez (21-0, 18 KOs) dominated J'Leon Love (24-3-1, 13 KOs) to earn a second-round stoppage in their super middleweight matchup.
On February 23, 2019, Anthony Dirrell fought Avni Yildirim for the then vacant WBC Super Middleweight World Championship. That highly entertaining and competitive match resulted in a split technical decision. Unfortunately, the fight ended via a stoppage during the actions of the 10th round, due to the severity of a cut Dirrell sustained as a result of an accidental head butt.
For all of the protests filed over controversial scoring or questionable rulings in the ring, few if any of the final verdicts actually get overturned. Most boxers and their camps know this going in, but often go through the with process in the hope of at least walking away with at least one more title shot. Turkey’s Avni Yildirim and his team seemed to sense this as they made their way to Mexico City, paying a visit to the World Boxing Council to discuss the outcome of his loss to Anthony Dirrell.
The final televised boxing card of February was pretty much in line with the rest of the month—down from the start of the year, but with plenty of room for growth. Saturday’s live installment of Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) drew a combined 358,000 viewers across all Fox Sports platforms. The main FS1 telecast—topped by Anthony Dirrell’s technical decision win over Avni Yildirim live from the Minneapolis Armory in Minneapolis, Minnesota—drew 291,000 viewers according to Nielsen Media Research.
Avni Yildirim from Turkey arrived in Mexico City with his promoter Ahmet Oener to meet WBC President, Mauricio Sulaiman.. Yildirim fought against Anthony Direll in Minneapolis this past Saturday for The vacant WBC Super Middleweight world championship. It was a tremendous, action packed fight which resulted in technical decision due to the severe damage to Direll’s left eye which resulted from accidental headbutts during the fight.