By Cihat Gemici

The next opponent for Turkish rising star Avni “Mr. Robot” Yildirim’s was revealed by his manager and trainer, Ahmet Öner. 

In the last year, Yildirim (15-0, 10 KO) has showed an amazing rise in the super middleweight division. The WBC number 3 and WBC silver title holder became the  mandatory challenger of the sanctioning body and gave a lot of hope to his country to secure his first major title bout.

According to Oner, Yildirim’s side has followed the developments of the title fight that was ordered between Callum Smith and Anthony Dirrell, who battle for the vacant WBC title. The winner must make a mandatory defense against Yildirim or face the possibility of being stripped.

After the long period of time that it took to finalize a deal for Smith vs. Dirrell - Öner did not want Yildirim to become inactive and decided that the Turkish star should go forward and take a fight against a serious opponent where he would test himself.

Marco Antonio Periban (25-3-1) was identified as the opponent in the statement he made. Periban had previously fought IBF Champion James DeGale, former WBC champs Sakio Bika and Badou Jack. The encounter with Jack ended in a draw.

The match between Yildirim and Periban will take place on May 13th in Mexico. The WBC international belt (full title) will be the award to the winner.