Ahead of defending his super-middleweight titles against mandatory challenger Avni Yildirim, Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez confirmed his ambitious plans to fight a total of four times in 2021 alone.
The Yildirim bout, his first defence of the WBA (Super), WBC and The Ring straps he won from Callum Smith only two months ago, could potentially be followed by big fights around Cinco de Mayo in the spring and Mexican Independence Day in September, as well as one more just before Christmas.
To do so, not only will the Mexican need to continue his winning ways but he must stay healthy throughout, with 12-week training camps starting very soon after he has completed the fight before.
On the Ak and Barak Show (on DAZN and Sirius XM Fight Nation), Canelo remained confident that is exactly what will happen.
"I want to fight four times this year," he told Ak and Barak. "Hopefully, I’ll have the opportunity. If I get the fights that I want to fight four times a year, for sure.
"My goal is to give the fans great fights."
On how he intends to beat Yildirim, Canelo added: "I always focus on what’s in front of me. I’m focusing on winning on Saturday. It doesn’t matter if it’s through a knockout or a decision. I’m ready to do what needs to be done.
"I could only be Canelo Alvarez. I always like to improvise. And we know that he’s going to try to rip my head off, and I’m going to try to counter. The tool that I’m going to use the most is my counter-punching.
"I believe he will make lots of mistakes, and I’m going to take advantage of that."
Canelo vs. Yildirim airs live on DAZN worldwide except Mexico, where it will be screened on TV Azteca. To sign up for DAZN, you can do so via web browser here unless you are in Argentina, Colombia or Chile, where you should download the DAZN app via Google Play or the App Store and sign up from there.