Via Barry Holbrook: Anthony Yarde put in a classy performance last Saturday night but unfortunately lost to the monster of light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev, losing in the eighth round at the OVO Arena in London, England.
Although Yarde (23-3, 22 KOs) looked fit and fit to continue in the eighth round, ready to continue fighting after being punched in the back of the head by Beterbiev, his corner thought. that it was better to pull him out than let him fight through this difficult time as he did many times during the war.
A slow approach won’t work
Now the question is where does Yarde, the 31-year-old former two-time world champion, go from here?
What we know is he can’t afford to take the same slow approach as he did last time Yarde fought for the world title in 2019 by battling pedestrian level fighters who skated to look good in gimme matches.
It’s too long to get promoted against inferior opponents, which is what Yarde has been doing for the past four years after losing to Sergey Kovalev in 2019.
If Yarde’s promoter asks him to follow the same path as last time, that means he won’t win another world title until he’s 35 and maybe he would be too old by that point to have a realistic chance of winning the world title.
Who’s next for Anthony Yarde?
Good options for Yarde for his next fight would be the top 5 boxers as follows:
- Joe Smith Jr.
- Gilberto Ramirez
- Dan Azeez
- Joshua Buatsi
- Jean Pascal
- Callum Smith
“I want to meet Artur Beterbiev with Bivol right now. Bivol holds the other straps. It’s going to be an undeniably great title fight, but I want to see Anthony Yarde with Joe Smith or someone like that just to show that he can get rid of some of these former champions because I think it’s a four-round game for him,” Gareth A. Davies told talkSPORT Boxing Who will Anthony Yarde face next after his knockout loss to Artur Beterbiev last Saturday night.
“We have some great battles here as well as on British shores that Anthony Yarde can take part in,” said Spencer Oliver. “You’ve got your Craig Richards; you’ve got your Dan Azeez who’s looking to take his way to the next level. There are great battles for him; really have.”
“Yarde’s reputation raised tonight. I’m happy to be here tonight to witness this fight. Shares of Anthony Yarde have gone up. Davies hopes Beterbiev will go on and fight for the undisputed title,” Davies said.
“You saw that Anthony Yarde started off perfectly; he had the perfect game plan. He was waiting for Betterbiev to come in while he was making his shots. Like we said all week, he met fire with fire. He’s leaving the hooks on the left.
Beterbiev’s flaws exposed
Oliver may have seen a weakness, possibly from his fight with Callum Johnson, Oliver said of Yarde.
“Always against him,” Davies added.
“Callum Johnson knocked him down in the second round, and Anthony Yarde is also succeeding. Then, Beterbiev started to come back, and Yarde showed great bravery through the rounds in his way. He was successful.
“Both of you actually went to a very dark place. Both of them bit their gum shields. Beterbiev finally succeeded. Anthony Yarde, let me say this, Anthony Yarde, on any other night before any other champion in that performance, would be world champion right now,” Oliver said.
“I’m not sure he beat Bivol. Davies says Bivol is a different type of fighter.
Oliver said of the Yarde: “What I am saying is that it was a world class performance worthy of winning the world title.
