By Dan Ambrose: Anthony Yarde needs a change of trainer says Top Rank promoter Bob Arum in commenting on his recent 11th round knockout loss to WBO 175-lb champion Sergey Kovalev last Saturday night in Chelyabinsk, Russia. Bob is one of many who feel that Yarde, 28, needs to dump his long time trainer Tunde Ajayi, and find someone that improve his game. Right now, Yarde is like a diamond in the rough. He’s got the physical talents, but he’s lacking the training to take him to the next level.
Arum says Yarde (18-1, 17 KOs) didn’t have the right training preparation going nto the fight to give him a good chance to win. Yarde fought like he didn’t have a “clue,” says Arum. Even though Yarde took over the fight in the 7th and 8th, he couldn’t close the show due to his lack of conditioning.
The wise Arum believes that Yarde should have had some step up fights to adequately prepare him to fight a 12 round bout. He also thinks Yarde needs to be sparring for him to succeed. Surprisingly, Yarde didn’t spar in preparing for the Kovalev fight. In fact, Yarde never spars in training for his fights.
I will always be a big critic of myself and thrive on progression 🦁
It was good but not good enough, more experience, more hard work, more more more 🦁 #LIONSINTHECAMP 🦁 https://t.co/Mtnqn5Yad4
— Anthony Yarde (@thebeastyarde) August 27, 2019
Arum says Anthony Yarde needs new trainer
“I think Anthony Yarde needs a new trainer,” said Arum to IFL TV. “That’s what I make of it. I think Yarde performed extraordinarily well, but it was like a guy in there with good talent, who had no clue. A couple of things. One, he’d never gone more than eight rounds, I don’t think. And now he’s in his first 12 round fight, and he doesn’t know how much gas he has in the tank. And the fact that he didn’t even spar for the fight is really an indictment in the training. I think if Yarde had been better prepared, and had the confidence he could go 12 rounds, he very well could have won that fight. It wasn’t just the 8th.
Yarde started in the 7th; he took over the fight in the 7th, and in the 8th, he had Kovalev out. He didn’t have the gas in his tank to finish him, and then from the 9th round on, Kovalev suddenly came back and took over. You can’t win a fight like that without a pattern of how you’re going to fight. In other words, fighting Kovalev, you need a jab to match his jab. And that would setup body punches, which Kovalev is vulnerable to,” said Arum.
Yarde has shown much loyalty to his trainer Tunde Ajayi as Anthony Joshua has shown for his longtime coach Rob McCracken. If anyone pushes Yarde to dump Ajayi, they’re likely to be wasting their time. He’s been with him too long, and he’s going to probably stick it out with him. The success that Yarde had against Kovalev in rounds 7 and 8 will be reason enough for him to stay with Tunde. If this had been a complete blowout, then Yarde might consider switching coaches.
Andy Ruiz Jr. beats Anthony Joshua again predicts Arum
“What I’m predicting is the same result as the first fight,” said Arum when asked about the rematch between Andy Ruiz Jr. and Anthony Joshua. “He’s [Ruiz] is the wrong guy for Joshua to fight. Joshua is a stationary type of guy, and if you can come in, take a punch, and you have fast hands, and then you can put pressure on him, then he’s in trouble,” said Arum.
This is an easy prediction for Arum to make. Joshua is slow, over-muscular, chinny and his conditioning is lacking. On top of all those flaws in Joshua’s game, he’s still being trained by his amateur coach Rob McCracken, who hasn’t ironed any of his flaws in all these years. A lot of trainers would have spoken up when Joshua started hitting the weights hard and bulking up after he turned pro in 2013, but McCracken hasn’t gotten in his way.
What Ruiz (33-1, 22 KOs) showed in his 7th round knockout win over Joshua was he’s only capable of fighting hard for one round before gassing. This means that if Ruiz jumps on Joshua in the 1st round in their rematch on December 7th, he’s got a good chance of tiring him out, and picking him off in the subsequent rounds. That’s what we saw last time they fought. When Ruiz attacked Joshua hard in round 3, he gassed out immediately, and never got his second wind. In round 7, Joshua was still gassed out, and easy pickings for Ruiz.
Arum: Tyson Fury is staying busy against Otto Wallin
“He has to stay busy, Tyson Fury, before he fights Wilder,” said Arum. “That fights not going to happen until early next year. So this is a fight [Fury vs. Otto Wallin] that is necessary. One requirement that Tyson had is it’s a big guy, which Wilder is a big guy, so we got him the best available guy. Wallin is a very good heavyweight. He’ll give him a decent fight, better than [Tom] Schwarz did, and we’ll see what happens. In Vegas, that’s a Vegas fight, probably at the T-Mobile back again,” said Arum about the location for the Fury vs. Wilder rematch. “It’s got 20,000 seats, and it’ll clearly be an easy sellout,” said Arum.
Arum can whitewash his decision to match Tyson Fury against Otto Wallin whatever way he wants, but it’s obvious that he’s feeding him soft touches in hopes of increasing his popularity in the U.S. He’s likely hoping that Fury’s self-confidence will be increased with these showcase fights so that he’ll go into the rematch with WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder next February feeling invincible. This tactic would work if Wilder (41-0-1, 40 KOs) wasn’t such a big puncher. But with his power, it doesn’t matter how confident Fury is coming into their rematch. If the bulked up Wilder hits Fury on the button with one of his big right hands, he’s going to take a nap again. This time it’s like the referee won’t bother giving a count to Fury.