‘Lackadaisical’ Lyndon Arthur will not allow complacency to decide rubber match with Anthony Yarde

Ask Anthony Yarde why he lost against Lyndon Arthur back in December 2020 and he will tell you it was because it was not him – not the real him – in the ring that night. 

Similarly, ask Lyndon Arthur why he lost against Anthony Yarde in their rematch 12 months later and he will tell you it was because it was not him – not the real him – in the ring that night. 

Now, three years on from the pair’s second fight, both are preparing to meet again, this time at Tottenham Hotspur Football Stadium on April 26. This time, too, both will claim that the best versions of themselves will turn up on the night, when they are needed, and that the days of imposters filling in for them are over. 

“I can’t wait,” Arthur, 33, told BoxingScene on Tuesday. “It’s exciting. I don’t think I need a big fight to feel motivated, but it definitely helps. 

“Obviously this is the biggest fight for me right now, in the sense of no world titles and stuff. We’ve got history. It’s 1-1. We now have a chance to finish the rivalry and answer questions. 

“I kind of always knew it would happen one way or another; I just didn’t know when it would happen.”

Considering the strange nature of their first two fights, it was never a given that Arthur and Yarde would renew acquaintances. After all, there was a certain authority to Arthur’s first win against Yarde, despite it being a split decision, and there was even more authority exhibited by Yarde in the return, when he halted Arthur inside four rounds. 

“I wouldn’t say it affected me too badly, but it was a horrible loss,” Arthur reflected. “Boxing’s boxing – it can happen – but it still stunned me a bit. I should have done this, I should have done that… 

“I don’t believe he beats me at my best. That was just me being lackadaisical about the whole situation. I was complacent after that first fight. That’s exactly what it was. Even if he was different in the rematch, I didn’t think it would be anything to worry about. I didn’t think he’d be that much different.”

Yarde, of course, was entirely different the second time around. He was more focused, more aggressive, and more violent in his attitude. He was, in short, a different fighter and a different man. 

Ahead of fight one, Yarde had been trying to box his way out of grief following the death of four loved ones, including his father, due to COVID-19. He soon realised, when in the ring against Arthur, that it was impossible. 

“Going into the (first) Lyndon fight I remember during fight week telling myself the reason I was feeling emotional was because I was making weight and not eating the food I wanted to eat,” Yarde told me in 2022. “I was ignoring it. But usually when I’m making weight I want to eat more. This time I was like, ‘I’m not even hungry.’ My mum’s saying to me, ‘Do you want to eat?’ But I didn’t. I’d go days without eating and then when I did eat it was just a little bit of food. So I was losing weight easily but not in a healthy way.

“I’m then sitting in the hotel room during fight week and looking at old pictures. Usually, I don’t do that. On fight week I’m very focused, I’m watching war movies, and I’m getting ready to fight. That fight week was so hard for me, but I kept it to myself. Then, when I was in the ring, there’s no crowd to cheer or get me in my mode. I’m hearing my sister’s voice. I’m hearing Lyndon Arthur’s cheerleaders. It turned into a different thing. I didn’t even feel I was in a fight that night.”

Twelve months later, there was another fight between them and this time Yarde – the real Yarde – turned up.

“I know you shouldn’t say 100 per cent but I was like 98 per cent sure I was going to stop him,” Yarde said about the rematch. “Because I’d been in with him before, I knew what I could do. Even if he switched up his game plan, I’d felt his power and I’d felt his jab. None of his jabs hurt me and I’d sparred better jabbers than him in America and even in England. I knew exactly how the rematch was going to play out.

“He (Arthur) really didn’t believe the fact my mind wasn’t there (in fight one). His trainer (Pat Barrett) knew more about me in the first fight. He came into the changing room afterwards and said, ‘We were lucky there to get you at the right time. I’m going to do everything in my power to make this rematch not happen because I know how you are going to come for the next fight.’”

After getting his revenge, many expected Yarde to push on and leave Arthur in his wake, with the emphatic nature of the revenge enough to ensure there was never any need for a trilogy fight. However, though he bravely challenged Artur Beterbiev for the IBF, WBC and WBO light-heavyweight titles in 2023, Yarde has struggled to distance himself from his main UK rival and as a result the third fight has retained some of its appeal and indeed its importance. 

“I watched him fight Beterbiev, but missed his last fight (a decision win over Ralfs Vilcans),” said Arthur, 24-2 (16). “He did all right against Beterbiev and he has improved. But so have I. I think if you put somebody in front of me who poses a threat, when I’ve got a full training camp, I will do what’s needed. 

“It’s obviously going to be the biggest crowd I’ve boxed in front of, especially as I’m high up on the card. I’ve never boxed in a football stadium before, so I’m excited for that. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do – along with boxing at York Hall. This is right up there for me and I can’t wait. 

“I just think the whole situation will bring the best out of me. The occasion is massive and the fight is really important.”

While it is easy to see how Arthur became complacent following his first fight with Yarde, it is hard to imagine him now making the same mistake again. This time, of course, he knows not only what Yarde can do if he lets him, but he also senses the magnitude of both the occasion and the rivalry like never before. Now there is more at stake in this fight than in either of the two previous ones. Now defeat, for either of them, will be the thing that at last separates the winner from the loser and the real McCoy from the imposter. 

“I expect him to come and be like he was in the second fight,” said Arthur. “He has to. I don’t think a scenario exists where he can outbox me, so he has to do that.”