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Nick Parkinson
LONDON, England – Artur Beterbiev maintained his 100% professional knock-out record by stopping Anthony Yarde in eight thrilling rounds to defend his three world lightweight titles on Saturday.
Few things in sports are certain, but Beterbiev has delivered a KO performance in each of his 19 professional games for more than a decade now.
At 38 years old, Beterbiev is probably in the form of an afterlife destroy Joe Smith in the war of unification in June and then slowly took down Yarde, concluding his mental challenge with a crunching right hand, at the OVO Arena in Wembley, England.
But the Russian-Canadian tennis player had to go through some tough moments in a thunderous match, with Yarde producing moments that made the champion really nervous.
Beterbiev (19-0, 19 KO), who is in Montreal but originally from Chechnya, Russia, signed up to defend his seventh world title in a brutal bout in which he ended in two-minute-a-second style. in the eighth round.
“I can’t say I didn’t hit well, but if I had to do it again I would have done better, but I feel fine,” said Beterbiev.
“Every boxer in this category can punch hard and so can Anthony; he’s 31, he’s young, I’ve turned pro 28, so he has time. I hope he will. play well in the future.”
This win increases the demand for WBC, IBF and WBO champion Beterbiev against WBA champion Dmitry Bivol (21-0, 11 KOs), also from Russia but based in North America, who is having good form after won points against Saul ”Canelo” Alvarez and Gilberto Ramirez last year.
Yarde (23-3, 22 KOs) was stopped for the second time in his career by a Russian player. He was stop at round 11 by Sergey Kovalev WBO title competition 2019.
Yarde, who had had a good but lackluster start before being stopped by Kovalev, had a positive start on Saturday and showed no sign of being threatened by Beterbiev’s formidable record.
Beterbiev opened the scoring in the second half as he backed Yarde into the corner, landing with a series of right-handed strikes. Yarde managed to slip away to avoid further trouble, but Beterbiev was able to find him with a continuous stab in the third inning.
Beterbiev started the fourth round in a hurry and landed with several large right hands before a barrage of attacks left Yarde momentarily unsteady. Later in the fourth inning, Yarde came in with a large right hand but showed no sign of staggered by the hammer strike.
In the fifth round, Beterbiev landed with his left hand as Yarde entered the range, but later in the round, Yarde stunned the champion with a temple right and the round ended in a tie. .
Beterbiev knew he was in for one of the toughest matches of his professional career and in the sixth inning he was left with blood seeping from above his left eye.
The seventh round was another slugfest with Yarde taking two batons before Beterbiev returned fire with a barrage of blows that threatened to knock the British over. But again Yarde showed great tenacity and he finished the half in the lead, opening two excellent headers.
Yarde was very good in teamfights, but Beterbiev showed his finishing quality in the eighth round as he landed straight with his right hand causing Yarde to spin, before another shackle sent him down. canvas.
Yarde stood up on wobbly legs after a count and as Beterbiev continued to attack, referee Steve Gray quickly stopped the match after Yarde’s coach, Tunde Ajayi, had climbed onto the ring apron and signaled. pause the contest.
Dalakian overtakes Jimenez
Artem Dalakian did a great job posing as a bullfighter in a unanimous win over David Jimenez to defend his WBA world flyweight belt.
Dalakian (22-0, 15 KOs), 35, has not played since a ninth-round win over Luis Concepcion to defend his fifth title in his home city of Kyiv, Ukraine, in November 2021. A few months later, Russia invaded Ukraine and the Dalakian had to wait a long time to resume his career.
Despite the disqualification, Dalakian scored in a close-range teamfight to score 115-113, 115-113 and 116-112.
Jimenez (12-1, 9 KOs), 30, from Costa Rica, maintained the pressure from start to finish and had some success in the mid rounds before Dalakian regained his composure late.
