MIAMI – Avni Yildirim is well aware of the boxing public’s perception of his fight against Canelo Alvarez.

The Turkish contender is widely viewed as a gargantuan underdog who has next to no chance of upsetting perhaps the sport’s best boxer, pound-for-pound. Handicappers have established Alvarez as a 50-1 favorite over his mandatory challenger Saturday night, but those lopsided odds have only provided more motivation for Yildirim throughout his recently completed training camp.

“They’re not giving me much of a chance,” Yildirim told BoxingScene.com. “They look at me like it’s impossible because if you look at boxing in Turkey, there are not many successful Turkish boxers. Yes, maybe in our history you may find some successful athletes, boxers. But our country is not famous for boxing. So, first of all, they don’t give a Turkish boxer a chance over here. They look at it as impossible, but nothing is impossible. I believe in myself. More than that, my coach [Joel Diaz] believes in me.”

The lopsided odds are justifiable because Yildirim was knocked out in the third round by Chris Eubank Jr. (29-2, 22 KOs) in October 2017. He’ll also end a two-year layoff when he challenges Alvarez in DAZN’s main event at Hard Rock Stadium in nearby Miami Gardens, and he has fought a much lower level of opposition than Alvarez overall.

Alvarez’s victory is considered such a forgone conclusion, a deal for the WBC/WBA super middleweight to champ to box WBO champ Billy Joe Saunders (30-0, 14 KOs) on May 8 already is in place.

Nevertheless, Yildirim (21-2, 12 KOs) is the WBC’s mandatory challenger for Alvarez’s 168-pound championship. The 30-year-old Alvarez was required to fight him as part of an agreement the WBC made with Alvarez and Callum Smith before the Mexico City-based governing organization agreed to sanction their fight two months ago.

Mexico’s Alvarez (54-1-2, 36 KOs) dominated England’s Smith in their 12-round title fight December 19 at Alamodome in San Antonio. Alvarez won the then-vacant WBC belt that night and took the WBA crown from Smith (27-1, 19 KOs), who lost by wide distances on all three scorecards (119-109, 119-109, 117-111).

The 29-year-old Yildirim hasn’t fought since February 2019, when he lost a technical decision to Anthony Dirrell in their 12-round fight for the WBC title at The Armory in Minneapolis.

A cut above Dirrell’s left eye caused an abrupt conclusion to their fight following the 10th round. Dirrell (33-2-1, 24 KOs), of Flint, Michigan, was ahead on two scorecards at that time – 96-94, 96-94, 92-98 – and won an unclaimed WBC belt that had been stripped from David Benavidez because he tested positive for cocaine in August 2018.

Benavidez regained his title by knocking out Dirrell in the ninth round of their September 2019 bout at Staples Center in Los Angeles.

Alvarez was afforded an opportunity to fight for the WBC belt against Smith because Benavidez (23-0, 20 KOs) surrendered it again without losing a fight – this time for coming in almost three pounds overweight for an optional title defense against Alexis Angulo. Benavidez stopped Colombia’s Angulo (26-2, 22 KOs) after 10 one-sided rounds August 15 at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut.

All along, Yildirim has been waiting, at times impatiently, for this title shot he is owed.

“Maybe I haven’t been fighting for two years, but I am away from my country, training, for the last two years,” Yildirim said. “So, I haven’t been sleeping. I haven’t been resting. I’ve been training every, single day, waiting for this fight.”

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.