When British warrior Anthony Yarde rumbled with light-heavyweight king Artur Beterbiev in January of 223, plenty of people showered the fight with great praise, with some suggesting it was FOTY material. Certainly, for a few good rounds, Yarde held his own and slugged it out with Beterbiev. Eventually, Beterbiev got the stoppage win in the eighth round. Now, just days after Beterbiev unified all four belts at 175 with his close decision win over Dmitry Bivol, Yarde is set to return to action.
Yarde, 25-3(24), says he wants Beterbiev again. The 33-year-old from Hackney also wants to fight Bivol and Joshua Buatsi. First, Yarde must come through okay against Ralfs Vilcans of Latvia, whom Yarde will fight on Saturday night. This is on the Adam Azim-Ohara Davies card.
Yarde says he wants to get active, his last fight having taken place in February, with him having won two fights since being stopped by Beterbiev. But Yarde wants more big fights.
“I want to be in the ring,” Yarde told BBC Sport. “Everyone is going to have their opinion on the level I should be fighting, or the fight, or how big the fight should be. I want the biggest fights out there. That’s Joshua Buatsi, that’s Beterbiev 2, that’s [Dmitry] Bivol.”
All three of the possible fights Yarde mentioned for himself would be very interesting. Beterbiev and Bivol will surely box a return fight next, however, and as a result, their time will be taken up over the next few months. But maybe a fight between Yarde and Buatsi, 19-0(13), could be made before too long? For sure, that’s a fight that would headline a card here in the UK.
Ben Shalom, who promotes Yarde, says his fighter is a “super talent” and a “showman.”
“We don’t have many genuine superstars that can capture the attention as mainstream stars, and Anthony Yarde is one of them,” Shalom said. “There’s Joshua Buatsi, there’s Ben Whittaker, there’s Anthony Yarde all in the domestic light-heavyweight scene [in the UK]. There are not many fighters, if any, in the division that can fight the way Anthony Yarde can fight.”
Whittaker has unfinished business with Liam Cameron, and a rematch is expected there. But later down the road, maybe Whittaker can test his self-proclaimed great stuff against Yarde. It seems more realistic that Yarde will get big domestic fights, whereas he may not get a second shot at Beterbiev or a fight with Bivol. But you have to hand it to Yarde for wanting to go back in there with absolute beast Beterbiev, having already tasted his power.
Let’s see how Yarde looks against Vilcans on Saturday night.
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