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Anthony Dirrell and Avni Yildirim will meet on Feb. 23 in Minneapolis, with the vacant WBC super middleweight title on the line in a PBC on FS1 main event.
Dirrell (32-1-1, 24 KO) is a former titleholder who was set to face unbeaten David Benavidez for the WBC belt, but Benavidez failed a drug test and was ultimately suspended by the sanctioning body.
With the title now vacant, Dirrell instead meets Yildirim (21-1, 12 KO), a once-beaten fighter from Turkey. Yildirim, 27, was pretty much wiped out when he stepped up against Chris Eubank Jr in Oct. 2017, but he’s won five straight fights since then to get himself back in position for this opportunity.
Dirrell, 34, fought once this year, beating Abraham Han by wide 10-round decision in El Paso on April 28.
The Dirrell-Yildirim winner will probably have to face Benavidez later down the line, and the most recent talk is that Benavidez will be back in March after his suspension ends in February.