By Charles Brun: Blue-collared fighter Anthony Yarde will be attempting to do the impossible by defeating the unbeaten IBF, WBC & WBO light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev (18-0, 18 KOs) on January 28th at the Ovo Arena in London, England.
Some would say that the 31-year-old Yarde has done little to earn a title shot against the talented two-time Olympian Beterbiev, as Lyndon Arthur beat him in 2020. Since then, he’s defeated a couple of nondescript fighters and avenged his loss to Lyndon.
Yarde hasn’t beaten anyone that jumps out at you to say, ‘Yeah, he rates a world title shot against Beterbiev,’ yet here he is, getting a chance to fight for the champions IBF, WBC & WBO 175-lb straps on January 28th.
On top of that, Yarde is getting a hometown advantage with the fight in London, England, rather than in Beterbiev’s adopted home Montreal, Canada. I mean, how rich is that?
Most, if not all, boxing fans view this fight as a massacre waiting to happen for the unbeaten knockout artist Beterbiev against the badly flawed Yarde (23-2, 22 KOs), who failed once before when stepping it up at the world level in 2019 when he was knocked out by a badly faded shopworn WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev.
“You mentioned Anthony Yarde & Artur Beterbiev on the 28th of January. A massive coup to get Beterbiev to come here and fight Yarde and a huge opportunity for Anthony Yarde,” said Gareth A. Davies to Pitch Boxing.
“Anthony is a big puncher, and he’s also a good boxer,” said promoter Frank Warren about WBO mandatory Anthony Yarde. “Beterbiev is an excellent fighter. He holds three belts. He fought Callum Johnson, I think, two years ago, and Johnson put him on the floor. Callum put him down.
“If Anthony puts him down, number one, Anthony is a good finisher, but he won’t get over that. He’s so confident, Anthony. It’s a tough fight, it’s not easy, but we’ve done all we can to put it in his backyard for him,” said Warren about Yarde.
“He will have learned from the Sergey Kovalev [fight],” said Davis about Yarde, who was knocked out by former WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev in the eleventh round on August 24th, 2019 in Chelyabinsk, Russia.
“Yeah, he should have won that fight,” Warren said about Yarde’s fight with Kovalev. “The tactics were wrong. He left it all too late. He was in front of all the judges’ scorecards when the fight got stopped. He was like ten seconds away from becoming world champion,” said Warren.