Results / Photos: Beterbiev defeats Yarde in London

By Boxing News - 01/28/2023 - Comments

WHILE ANTHONY YARDE is promising to bring fire and brimstone to his unified world title challenge against Artur Beterbiev on January 28, live on BT Sport, he insists he has no intention of neglecting the basics when it comes to doing so.

The big-hitting Londoner has previously stated that planned long-distance travel in fights is not really his thing and that the unbeaten Beterbiev can expect an onslaught at the OVO Arena, Wembley.

However, the 31-year-old light heavyweight contender has never been simply a crash, bang, wallop merchant. There is much more to his game than that. He works off a hurtful jab and picks his spots before detonating any bombs.

WHEN IS BETERBIEV VS. YARDE? DATE, START TIME

  • Date: Saturday, January 28 2023
  • Main card: 7 p.m. GMT / 2 p.m. ET
  • Main event ringwalks (approx): 10 p.m. GMT / 5 p.m. ET
  • The fight will be streamed live on ESPN+ in the U.S., while UK fans can watch the fight on BT Sport.
  • The fight will take place at the OVO Arena Wembley in London
  • The main card is set to get underway at 7 p.m. GMT / 2 p.m. ET with the main event ringwalks scheduled for 10 p.m. GMT / 5 p.m. ET.

So don’t just expect him to just charge across the canvas on his night of destiny in North West London.

“How often do you see someone just go in there swinging?” asked the man with 22 KOs to his name from 23 wins as pro. “All the biggest knockout punchers, like GGG, he didn’t go in just hitting and trying to knock people out, he had a tactical approach.

“He’s got an excellent jab and used to wear down his opponents.

“Mike Tyson. People call him a brawler. Disrespectfully, for years. Only now people are starting to see the more technical side of his boxing and are saying this guy was a masterful counter-puncher.

“Even early in your career when you are fighting people you are ‘meant to beat’, you find prospects struggling with these guys because you don’t just go in and knock someone out. It doesn’t work like that. It is boxing, it is an art.

“You’ve got to pick someone apart and then land the shots. I said this early on, my thing is I am a powerful, accurate puncher. I find the shot and, when I find it and land it, people are going to feel it.”

Yarde has done his best to resist sweeping change to his style as he climbed the levels in the pro ranks. Fighters, quite naturally, adapt their game plans as the danger increases, but the key, according to the Ilford man, is not changing in response to credentials being doubted from the outside.

“It is a mixture because, in my mind, I said I don’t want to run into the unknown. But, at the same time, I don’t want to have somebody else’s career. That is what happens in boxing and people are telling you, you should be doing this, you should be doing that.

“If I listened to everyone that was saying things I would not be where I am today. When I started boxing people said all sorts of things until I would do it.

“It is a compromise, you can’t please everybody, in boxing or any sport, really.

“When Mike Tyson was knocking out everybody, I remember watching one of his fights with the commentary on and they said that people were starting to say he was fighting nobodies. People are always going to have something to say.

“Then when he went 10 rounds they said he was not the real deal, after all. So you can’t win. If you go 10, win every round and don’t get hit, they say the guy you fought was nothing, but he didn’t knock him out like we wanted to see. When you do get the stoppage, some people say you knocked him out too early, ‘what is he learning from that?’.

“He is learning how to knock someone out! That is what he’s doing.

“That is my thing as well, the more I knock people out, the more I have learned how to do it in different ways. That is the way I see it.”

Artur Beterbiev

“In our camp, we always try to be ready for different scenarios. If it’s a tough fight, we’re going to be ready.”

“I feel good. I hope on January 28 I will change a little bit (to turn into a monster). I said he looks like a bodybuilder because of his muscles. I don’t have this muscle and I didn’t say it to mean anything bad. I said it because he looks strong!”

Anthony Yarde

“Everyone knows the type of character I am. I’m very calm. I jump at opportunities, and again, you go thorough certain things in your journey to strengthen you. You go through certain things in your journey to prepare you as well. So, that’s why I keep saying I’m so excited.”

“I’m happy to be alive, happy to be at this stage of my life as well. Being an underdog, over-dog middle dog… it don’t matter to me. I’m a dog! When I get in the ring and I start throwing my hands about, everyone knows what I can do. If you want to say it does anything to me, it gives me that little push, that little urge. But, again, it’s expected. I don’t lie or bullsh*t anybody. He’s got 18 fights, 18 wins, {100 percent} knockout ratio, Olympian. He’s done a lot in the sport, and that’s why he should be respected. I’ve respected him this far. As I said before, when we get in the ring, surely he will be saying the same thing. There’s no respect in the ring when you try and take the respect away from your opponent.”

“Three belts, legacy and history. I’m happy it’s Beterbiev. This scary person. I’m happy that it’s three belts. It just makes it all that much better. It’s gonna feel like it’s earned. It’s not no easy way out. There’s a lot of fighters that get a mandatory world title, or they get someone that they’re meant to beat, they’re the a-side, etc. I like this route. This route gives me the goosebumps, the good feeling. It’s the journey. The journey is what makes me happy.”

Bob Arum

“I think, pound for pound, the biggest puncher in boxing today is the guy on my right who has knocked out every opponent that has been put in front of him, not because he isn’t a very good boxer — because he is a very good boxer — but he also has that magic that you can’t really train a fighter for. It’s instinctive, the ability to punch and knock out an opponent. So, I’m very happy to be here. I know Anthony Yarde, I’ve followed him. He’s a terrific fighter, also with a big punch. He’s a very, very exciting type of fighter.”

Marc Ramsay (Beterbiev’s Trainer)

“We’ve known {about} Anthony Yarde for a long time. I look at all the light heavyweights from their beginning until they reach the level of my fighter. I know he’s a good fighter, a complete fighter. He’s fast, he’s powerful, he can box, he can counterpunch. But we get ready for all of those elements in the training camp. We have a very productive training camp. We reached every single objective that we faced before the training camp. No excuse, no injury, no nothing. We’re just ready to perform and give the fans what they want to see.”

“I know everyone wants to talk about {Beterbiev’s perfect KO rate} and has questions about this, but this is really not the focus we have as a team. We work with Artur to get ready to fight the best way we can. Power is power. Power is there, but that is not the main objective for us. We don’t put the focus on that.”

Artur Beterbiev

“I had a good camp. I had good sparring. I will try to do my best.”

“My team and I always try to be ready for anything, any strategy.”

“I can’t compare {Yarde} to Joe Smith. It’s a different fight. Joe Smith had a belt at that time. It’s not comparable.”

On a potential Dmitry Bivol fight

“Right now, it’s Saturday night. I only think about Saturday night.”

Anthony Yarde

“If you look at what he’s accomplished so far, it’s amazing, and that’s what amps me up. So, again, I beat him, I deserve some respect.”

“I don’t look at what any other fighter has done {to him}. I don’t look at what he’s done to other fighters. Realistically, all you look at is style, but even that, you can’t take too much from. You only know once you step in there with a person, and you both shape up and you both start trading leather.”

“He’s never been in a situation where he’s lost. But for me, it’s all about me. That’s the way I am. That’s the way I operate. It’s about me and my legacy. He’s just the person with the belts.”

On the home crowd advantage

“I just feel like this one feels right. This one feels better. {The Sergey Kovalev fight} didn’t. All that matters is when we get in that ring. Everything that’s said before is all he said, she said possibilities and things like that. When we get in the ring, that’s when we’ll see.”

BETERBIEV VS. YARDE FIGHT CARD

  • Artur Beterbiev vs. Anthony Yarde; For Beterbiev’s IBF, WBA and WBC light heavyweight titles
  • Artem Dalakian vs. David Jimenez; For Dalakian’s WBA flyweight title
  • Willy Hutchinson vs. Emil Markic; For the vacant WBO Inter-Continental light heavyweight title
  • Karol Ituma vs. Ezequiel Osvaldo; For the vacant WBC international light heavyweight title
  • Charles Frankham vs. Joshua Ocampo; Super featherweight
  • Umar Khan vs. Sandeep Singh Bhatti; Featherweight
  • Sean Noakes vs. Santiago Garces; Welterweight
  • Tommy Fletcher vs. Darryl Sharp; Cruiserweight
  • Joshua Frankham vs. Joe Hardy; Welterweight
  • Khalid Ali vs. Ivica Gogosevic; Super welterweight
  • Moses Itauma vs. TBA; Heavyweight