By Barry Holbrook: Eddie Hearn feels that Anthony Yarde must take a “gamble” and go all out, trading huge punches with IBF, WBC & WBO light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev to have any shot at winning this Saturday, January 28th, in their fight at the OVO Arena in London, England.
Hearn says that if Yarde (23-2, 22 KOs) paces himself, as he did in his loss to Sergey Kovalev in 2019, Beterbiev (18-0, 18 KOs) will walk him down and take him out.
If Yarde starts late, his face will be too beaten up and his engine low for him to have any chance whatsoever of beating Beterbiev.
It’s near-impossible for the 31-year-old Yarde to win unless Beterbiev makes a mistake or if he got old overnight since his last win over WBO 175-lb champion last June.
Of all the top five heavyweight contenders, Yarde is arguably the last fighter that one would think about having a chance to defeat a talent like Beterbiev. Despite being his age, Yarde is arguably as green as a guy that just turned pro.
Yarde can’t pace himself
“It’s a good fight, but because Beterbiev isn’t a massive name in boxing, it’s probably not getting the awards it deserves. It’s a really good fight,” said Eddie Hearn to iFL TV about this Saturday’s match between IBF, WBC & WBO light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev and Anthony Yarde in London.
“We saw in the Callum Johnson fight that once he knocked him down, you have to have the belief to take it to him. For me. if Yarde tries to pace himself, if he tries to box in this fight, he will get walked down, he will get beaten up, and he will get stopped,” Hearn continued.
“I think he has to come out fast, and he has to gamble because you can’t keep Beterbiev off for twelve rounds. You can’t keep him off for nine rounds. He’s going to get walked down. I don’t think Yarde has the engine to fight for twelve rounds at the pace Beterbiev will set.
“I think Yarde has to come out, be aggressive, hold his feet, and unfortunately, trade, and it’s a very dangerous strategy. I don’t see him winning the fight any other way. So he has the power to hurt Beterbiev, but he’s going to have to gamble,” Hearn said.
Gamble early against Beterbiev
“Don’t gamble late when your face is busted up, and your engine is low when your tank is low, and you’ve been pushed around and beaten because you saw in the Kovalev fight that the best chance Yarde had in that fight was early, and he’s very sharp and very dangerous early,” said Hearn.
“I think he has to put it on Beterbiev early, catch him cold and try and game in this fight because I don’t see any other way he wins this fight. By the way, I hope he does because the winner is ordered to fight Callum Smith, who has to come through March 11th. But ultimately, Callum Smith will fight the winner of this fight. So for me, I’d prefer it to be Anthony Yarde.
“I will definitely be on the phone, checking who wins that fight because I think it’s good fight, and I’m excited to see what happens. If I was to go to a fight, that would be a fight that I’d be interested in going to because watching Beterbiev up close, I’ve seen it before, it’s pretty special. He’s a f***king animal, horrible.
“In this sport, you’ve got to be really tough; you’ve got to be able to take hammer at the elite level. You’ve got to be super fit, you’ve got to make the weight right, and you’ve got to be really tough.
“These are the kind of fights where you find out how tough because, let me tell you, this fight is going to be absolutely horrendous. It always is fighting Beterbiev. I’m doing a good job selling the fight, to be honest, but I don’t mind. But yeah, it’s going to be horrible. You’ve got to be prepared to go to some horrible places against this man,” said Hearn.