Anthony Yarde says Artur Beterbiev won’t take his “assault”

By Boxing News - 01/25/2023 - Comments

By Jack Tiernan: Anthony Yarde predicts that IBF, WBC & WBO light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev won’t be able to take the “assault” he puts on him this Saturday night when he gets in range to begin landing his huge shots at the OVO Arena in London.

Yarde (23-2, 22 KOs) isn’t intimidated by facing what many boxing fans feel is the most lethal puncher in the 175-lb division in Beterbiev (18-0, 18 KOs).

Beterbiev looked just as dangerous as ever, knocking out WBO champion Joe Smith Jr in two rounds last August in New York.

“Absolutely not,” said Anthony Yarde to iFL TV when asked if he’s phased by facing IBF/WBC/WBO light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev on Saturday.

“All this talking stuff doesn’t win fights; it doesn’t change outcomes. I’m excited about this fight.

“I feel it wasn’t stamina or fitness. It was hydration. That’s part of the experience. As I told you, that whole experience in Russia was different,” Yarde said about why he lost to former WBO 175-lb champion Sergey Kovalev on August 24, 2019, at the Traktor Sport Palace, Chelyabinsk, Russia.

“I’m a realist. The only way you know how something is going to go is once it goes that way,” Yarde said about whether Beterbiev can be hurt. “You can watch someone five million times, and then when it comes to it, you’re like, ‘What’s that about?’ That’s why I don’t watch my opponents. I leave that to my team.

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“Stylistically, you catch watch a couple of rounds, but when you get in there, the style in front of you is different,” Yarde said about not wanting to watch the past fights of Beterbiev. “That’s why with my approach, you get in the ring and shape up; then you know what time it is.

“He’s got punching power, and I’ve got punching power. I’ve had more fights, and I’ve finished more fights in a short space of time. What I see of him, he’s more of a volume type of person that keeps putting pressure, but when I land, it’s going to be exciting.

“100% and I said this earlier as well,” Yarde about his approach to the Beterbiev fight as the same as when he fought Lyndon Arthur the second time in which he stated, “He can’t stop the rain.”

“When I start putting an assault on people, there’s no one in this world that’s going to take it. We’re all human beings, and if I get in the range and I’m hitting you often, the fight ain’t going to go too much longer. I know that for a fact.

“And the NEW,” Yarde said, predicting that he’ll dethrone Beterbiev on Saturday.