Ahmet Oner, manager of super middleweight contender Avni Yildirim, believes his boxer is certainly capable of shaking up the sport.

On February 27th, Yildirim will challenge WBC, WBA super middleweight champion Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez in Miami, Florida.

Yildirim (21-2, 12 KOs), who is the WBC's mandatory challenger, is a tremendous underdog in the contest.

The betting odds are very wide in Canelo's favor. Many observer's point to Yildirim's loss from 2017, when Chris Eubank Jr. crushed him in three rounds.

Since that defeat, he's won five in a row with a controversial technical decision loss, in his last ring outing, to Anthony Dirrell.

"This is the biggest fight in the world for Avni. He knows that he can put his mark and name on the world. Obviously, it's not the same with this coronavirus thing and we won't have as many viewers. It won't be like old times, but I hope it's a good event, a good fight and we'll see how Avni does it," Oner told George Ebro.

"Avni is strong and big. Believe in him. I don't know why people think so little about Avni. Maybe because of Chris Eubank's fight, but Avni's improved. Canelo is undoubtedly very strong, but he is not a God, he is a human being and as a human being he has his weak and strong parts. People underestimate my boxer a lot. We'll see what happens in the fight. Maybe we're going to shake the whole world."

Oner backs Yildirim as being a much better athlete than some of the massive underdogs of the past.

"Avni is better than Buster Douglas was. [Andy] Ruiz is good, but look at what Avni looks like and what Ruiz looks like. Avni looks like an athlete. You can't always judge by knockout against Eubank, who has a different style than Canelo. Now we have a very good coach, Joel Diaz, who is overseeing Avni's development. Now he's on a different level," Oner said.

"I don't want to judge Callum Smith, but I expected a lot more from him. I was a little disappointed, but it's boxing. Two fight and one will win. If he had been braver, maybe Smith would have done more. Maybe he would have lost by knockout. In my opinion he was there to survive. It didn't look like he wanted to win, just survive. Avni will be different.''