ANTHONY YARDE says he is looking to destroy the winner of a united fight between Joe Smith jr and Artur Beterbiev in June in a week where he celebrates his seven years as a professional boxer.
The two light heavyweight champions hit the WBO, WBC and IBF belts on June 18 in New York and Yarde is planning to head to Madison Square Garden to ramp up the fight for his challenge coming later in the year. now.
“I’ll be watching closely as they play against each other and I’ll find a way to destroy the winner,” said Yarde, who feels the previous world championship shot will give him the edge.
“I definitely feel in a better place. The reason I feel in a better place is because I’ve accumulated more experience and I’ve been at that level before.
“I can say that there is not much pressure, but there will always be pressure. I’ve had experience and, with that, I feel like I know what I need to do. ”
Yarde explained that he has no regrets sitting down with Dev Sahni during Unibet Lowdown to look back on his seven years as a professional boxer.
Back in May 2015, Yarde played Mitch Mitchell at Wembley Arena and, 15 seconds into the second half, the match was stopped by referee Terry O’Connor and the first page of the Anthony Yarde Story was written.
Remarkably, just over 4 years later, Yarde arrived in the Chelyabinsk waters of Russia to confront the formidable forces of Sergey Kovalev in his homeland with the WBO world title at stake.
Despite the round of 16 when Kovalev was on the verge of being blown up, Yarde suffered the first loss of his career and the following year, his life situation worsened when the pandemic hit. and he had to suffer mourning.
His personal losses come after a major domestic clash with Lyndon Arthur and, he said if he could change one thing, he wouldn’t let his pain go public.
“I would never say it’s been seven years because, when you get into it, it goes so fast,” the 30-year-old reacted on his boxing anniversary. “Because we also have covid, it puts more wrenches into the pieces and feels like it was a shorter time.
“Seven years seems like madness!
“The highs included in my first four years fighting for a world title and that’s when it was like one thing after another and happened very quickly. Then I went back and sorted everything before fighting Lyndon Arthur after an accident with all the dead in my family.
“In the end I didn’t get a decision and had to reevaluate everything. Again, now I feel on the right track and feel like my mind is back to how it was before.
“I have no regrets and I am happy with the way my career has come so far. Of course, everyone wants to get over that huge hurdle of being undefeated and becoming invincible, but there’s a feeling you get from bouncing back.
“Even in the last battle, I had to go through a lot mentally and to get the victory I felt 10 times better.”
While what doesn’t break you does make you stronger, Yarde confirms that challenges have strengthened his mental toughness and that his mission is to just keep working. .
“Truth. Even before turning professional, I was faced with being a performer, an entertainer, and no one cares about your personal life. While it can be a story and tragedy gives everyone something to talk about, I have to keep in mind that no one cares what you’re going through. So let’s get on with it.
“Sometimes it’s hard to get over private things, but my thing is in public and that’s what I’ve learned. If I have one regret, when I’ve gone through what I did to my family, I should keep it to myself. I wish I had kept it to myself.
“I feel it makes it harder for people to know about it and for people to post about it. I get thousands of messages, which is fine to start with, but when it comes to six or seven months, I get prompts to try to heal and that makes it even more difficult.
“It all made me stronger now. When you are a boxer, people always expect you to have this zodiac sign by your side to solve anything. The show has to go on and you go and fight. Everyone is different and I feel like I’ve handled it well and become a stronger person.”
A resounding defeat to Arthur in their December rematch, for Yarde, represents the opening of a new chapter in his story and clearing his mind of any leftover grenades. again.
“That is certainly fair. I made sure I stamped it and even during the build I was told it wouldn’t happen again. That didn’t happen again.
“My mind is back where it should be, I know what I need to do.”
As he will in the next chapter of his story, it will be the winner of the massive unification battle between Smith jr and Beterbiev on June 18.
Anthony Yarde will beat Joe Smith Jr. Tunde Ajayi says
KO King Anthony Yarde (22-2, 21 KOs) is the No. 1 contender for Joe Smith Jr.’s WBO World Light-Heavyweight title, and that fight is likely to happen this year.
The Ilford man is currently on a mission to clean up the 175lb division after knocking out Lyndon Arthur in four rounds last month, avenging a controversial loss a year earlier.
His coach Ajayi told Dev Sahni on The Lowdown: “The longer Anthony has to prepare and get better, no one can beat him. I believe this in my heart.
“When the time is right because everything is in time, Anthony Yarde will defeat all men in a way that we will no doubt be, just like Lyndon Arthur.”
Yarde’s outspoken coach added: “I’ve said it for years, ‘Tunde Ajayi has never coached a boxer to win points.’ Anthony’s record speaks for itself. Anthony is a counterfeit merchant.
“I didn’t see anything new from Joe Smith Jr in the process of defending him against Steve Geffrard. Anthony Yarde is another suggestion. ”
“Like us, he went the hard way and always had his back against the wall. He’s a boxer who is constantly getting better, having dethroned some of the sport’s legends.
“We took on a legend (Sergey Kovalev) and shortened the fight. Joe Smith went up against one man, Bernard Hopkins, and knocked him down.
“In my view, Frank Warren will do what he has always done and delivered. The WBO said Joe Smith has to fight Anthony Yarde next.
“People expect Anthony Yarde to win a World title. Joe Smith talks about payday and Frank can deliver that. Joe Smith wasn’t in the fight with Canelo, so he had to look at us. “
After just 12 amateur matches and 18 professional matches, in August 2019, Yarde went to Sergey Kovalev’s backyard in Chelyabinsk and challenged the Russians for the WBO world title.
Yarde nearly caused one of the biggest boxing fights in the eighth round, seriously injuring the champion, but the Briton’s lack of fighting experience spoke for itself, and he was stopped. three rounds later.
Ajayi said: “With experience comes wisdom. We now have wisdom not only in the fight but also in preparing for a World Championship fight.
“Even things like media obligations. We never had that before Russia. We just went there with passion and courage and faith in our abilities, but I think we are there now.
“We are going to be World champions. We have the right team. James Cook was the cement board we needed to strengthen the team.
“We are looking forward to the battle with Joe Smith. That’s the only fight on my mind right now, but we’re not scared of anyone.”
