By Scott Gilfoid: Unbeaten light heavyweight contender Anthony Yarde (17-0, 16 KOs) has been added to the un-televised portion of the Deontay Wilder vs. Tyson Fury card on December 1 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. Yarde’s opponent is still to be determined. There’s a possibility that Yarde’s fight might wind up on Showtime’s Facebook.
It’s unclear if Yarde’s fight against TBA will be televised back home in the UK. Yarde does have boxing fans that will be anxious to see him fight, even if it’s a mismatch against a last minute opponent selected for him in a showcase type of match-up.
Given that that there’s less than two weeks to go before December 1, Yarde’s opponent will likely be a soft opponent, especially with his fight not being televised. Yarde will probably be matched against a domestic level opponent. Yarde didn’t look so good in his fight last February against 34-year-old journeyman Tony Averlant (26-11-2, 5 KOs) at Bethnal Green. Yarde was hurt several times by Averlant during that fight. It was troubling to see Yarde getting hurt multiple times by a fighter with a 13% KO percentage.
Yarde is a big puncher with a crowd-pleasing style of fighting, but hi punch resistance seem to be lacking to the extreme. Yarde’s management hasn’t put him in against a live body yet, and it’s not surprising. As bad as Yarde looked against Averlant, he would have problems if he was matched against a quality contender like Marcus Browne,
It’s been three years since Yarde turned pro, and it’s hard to know if he’s any good. The match-making that’s been done for him as been so soft that there’s no telling whether he’ll ever be able to cut the mustard when he does eventually fight for a world title. For all we know, Yarde will fall apart when he faces his first contender. His management might choose to wait until a big money payday floats his way before they match him tough for the first time. Unfortunately for Yarde, there aren’t any big names at light heavyweight. Yarde would be better off losing some weight and dropping down to 168 to try and get a fight against someone like Callum Smith. Unfortunately, that fight is probably not going to ever happen due to the politics of boxing. Callum is promoted by Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Sport, whereas Yarde is with Queensbury.
Yarde is rated #2 with the WBO and #5 IBF. Yarde has been in position for a world title fight for over a year now, but he’s chosen not to take the plunge to face one of the belt holders. It’s a mystery why the 27-year-old Yarde hasn’t opted to take a title shot. It’s possible that Yarde will try and wait out 33-year-old IBF champion Artur Beterbiev and 41-year-old WBC belt holder Adonis ‘Superman’ Stevenson. The problem with Yarde waiting is other talented contenders will step in position to snatch the titles when it comes time for Stevenson and Beterbiev to be replaced.
If Yarde can be built slowly for the next three years, he might hit the jackpot for his promoters against a big name, but his punch resistance will likely hold him back. Yarde’s best shot for a payday in the time being would be if someone like Gennady Golovkin or Saul Canelo Alvarez moved up to super middleweight. Yarde could then move down to 168 and face one of them. The thing that works against Yarde getting a fight against one of those talent is his lack of a big name. He’s still not popular enough right now for him to get one of the big names to face him.
Josh Kelly wants Amir Khan fight
After just eight fights as a pro, welterweight prospect Josh Kelly (8-0, 6 KOs) wants a crack at Amir Khan (33-4, 20 KOs). 2016 Olympian Kelly is being put in the fast lane by his promoter Eddie Hearn to get him title shot in the near future. Kelly, 24, has already beaten a former world champion in Carlos Molina (29-10-2, 8 KOs) by a 10 round unanimous decision last March. It was a competitive fight. It wasn’t by any means a mismatch. Molina had the size to win some rounds before losing by the scores 99-92, 98-92 and 98-92.
“Definitely I would fight Khan, no problem,” Kelly said to skysports.com. “I’m not one for calling people out though. I want to be tested by genuine world-class operators, I wouldn’t be in the game if I didn’t think I could go all the way.”
Hearn might go for the idea of matching Kelly against Khan in the future, but not until he exhausts the fights he can get for the fading 31-year-old star. Khan will likely be facing Kell Brook in March or May of 2019. If Khan wins that fight, he has the possibility of facing bigger names like Manny Pacquiao, Errol Spence Jr., Keith Thurman and Terence Crawford. Kelly is still a small fry in the popularity game, it’s still too early to tell at this point in his career whether he’ll ever be a popular fighter. What Kelly has going against him is he’s a finesse fighter, who focuses mostly on defense and not enough on his offense. Those kind of fighters are a dime a dozen and hard on the eyes. Khan gains nothing by fighting Kelly other than the frustration of having to chase him around the ring for 12 rounds.
Kelly will be fighting next month against former WBA welterweight champion David Avanesyan (23-3-1, 11 KOs) on December 8 on the undercard of Kell Brook vs. Michael Zerafa on Sky Sports at the Sheffield Arena in Sheffield, England. Avanesyan, 30, is a non-puncher, which is arguably the only reason why Eddie Hearn selected him to fight Kelly. Hearn isn’t about to match his project against someone that can punch. If he did, there would be a risk of him getting beaten.
“Khan is good and you can’t write him off, he’s a lot better than people think, but I do think Brook would beat him, Kelly said. “Going off his last performance [against Samuel Vargas], Khan’s not as good as he once was.”
If Khan’s career is on the skids after a loss to Brook, there’s a small chance that he might be interested in facing Kelly. It’s doubtful though. There’s still more money to gain from fighting the popular welterweights than there would be in facing Kelly. There’ nothing to gain for Khan helping Hearn out by fighting Kelly unless he wants to to pay him big money.