Boxing analyst and light middleweight contender Hannah Rankin writes for BBC Sport about Anthony Yarde’s world title tilt against unified light-heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev on Saturday in London.
Beterbiev is undefeated in 18 fights and holds the WBO, WBC and IBF world titles. Yarde is a heavy underdog against the Russian, despite his home advantage.
Can the Briton become world champion on second request? Or will Beterbiev prove too powerful?
Anthony Yarde is so often underestimated. The Londoner enters his fight with Artur Beterbiev as a massive underdog.
People think Beterbiev will cross Yarde. He is the WBC, WBO and IBF light heavyweight champion and has 18 knockouts in 18 wins. It is a remarkable record.
But we’ve seen courage, determination and genuine bursts of genius from Yarde in the past. A Yarde win would be a big upset, but it wouldn’t go down in the history books as a huge upset.
Yarde did not come from nowhere, he deserved this place. He has explosive skills and two-handed power.
He is a good fighter who has been tested on the world stage. It’s not mission impossible. But it will be the one people will remember because it could be a cracker.
What’s so impressive about Yarde is how quickly he’s improved since making his professional debut in 2015. He’s gone from minimal amateur experience to competing on the world stage.
Sergei Kovalev fight in 2019 showed off those flashes of brilliance from Yarde.
You really saw some serious skill and that was his first step on the big stage in a world title fight, and that was in Russia, don’t forget.
In the end, his physical condition let him down, he emptied the tank too quickly. But he didn’t lack ability in this fight, it was an exciting fight to watch and he showed that he belongs at this level.
I think we’ll see a lot more of that, a better version of that Yarde, in the fight with Beterbiev.
Yarde has improved since the Kovalev fight. He advances more now and waits less for his opponent.
He’s pushing the pace more himself and that shows his confidence, he’s been around bigger opponents and knows he’s got a chin. He is very strong and a big puncher too.
You see him now in all his fights. He was able to hurt Kovalev, then he blew up Lyndon Arthur in their revenge 13 months ago.
We saw his power at the elite level, and his chin too.
Those two things are what everyone says Beterbiev has. That’s why this fight is so exciting, they look alike. They have similar attributes.
However, Beterbiev is a better opponent than Kovalev five years ago.
Kovalev was then at the turning point of his career. But Beterbiev goes from strength to strength.
Yes, he was in some wars and you could say his body is feeling the brunt of it.
He is not a one-punch knockout artist. It takes him seven, eight rounds to knock someone out. There is a cumulative effect, an incessant pressure. He slowly disentangles people.
Beterbiev has an unwavering mindset where he’s unwavering – that’s where his reputation as a “monster” comes from.
He’s obviously very skilled in boxing, but also has an unbreakable Gennady Golovkin-esque feel to him.
He built that kind of aura. No matter what you hit him with, he always comes forward. You see him take hits but he comes back with three more of his own.
His opponents eventually wither under the pressure. He will attempt to do the same with Yarde. It will not change style.
But he will have to work hard to get there. Beterbiev is a tougher fight than Kovalev was for Yarde, that’s for sure.
Beterbiev does not decline. Fighting in London won’t deter him either. He hasn’t shown any major weaknesses in his previous fights and you can only assume he’ll be the best version of himself on Saturday.
Nevertheless, I give Yarde a good chance. He has power, he’s a big puncher. And Beterbiev is ready to be hit.
He is not very skilled in his upper body movements, but he has good feet.
Callum Johnson knocked it down in their fight in 2018and Jeff Page Jr did the same early in Beterbiev’s career.
This fight could come down to who lasts the longest. Yarde is a big puncher, has more hand speed, and can be very explosive.
If Yarde can go, he can put the pressure on. One good punch can change the whole fight. As he almost did in the eighth-round Kovalev fight, it was a big punch from Yarde and his opponent did well to pass the round.
Beterbiev and Yarde have excellent finishing instincts, so if one of them senses the other is hurt, they will pounce.
Yarde can’t afford to go on the back foot all the time, Beterbiev is too good on the front foot and he can see the Briton retreating into the ropes as a weakness.
Countering Beterbiev is also a risky game, given his ability to take a punch and respond with volume.
I think Beterbiev will win this fight on points, but you can’t rule out Yarde. There will be reversals, and there could be a reversal on both sides.
At first I was leaning a lot towards knocking out Beterbiev in the final rounds, but Yarde has such a solid chin.
I don’t think he’ll be lacking in fitness levels for this one. It could go the distance, although in that case Yarde could be overwhelmed.
However, this is not an impossible task. Being the big underdog gives you that extra fire to prove people wrong. This gives you an extra gear to push a little harder.
You still want to be the favorite, but being the underdog takes some of the pressure off. The favorite must perform.
But if you’re the underdog and you get the win, it’s so much more special.
Not just for Yarde, but for his team and his coach Tunde Ajayi. Together, they built from scratch on a global level. This creates an unbreakable bond between trainer and fighter. I’m not surprised that Yarde stayed with Ajayi even after defeats.
Winning silences everyone who doubted you.
I’m sure that will be Yarde’s approach. He was the underdog throughout his career. No one ever expected anything from him. He won’t be confused at all.
