Anthony Yarde vs. Dec Spelman - 12 September 2020

[margaret thatcher]

^

ghey

[handsofstone]

Strange match up this, mainly because Spelman fought Arthur what feels like about a fortnight ago, he put in the effort but lost widely, I think Yarde will finish off what Arthur couldn't do, Yarde is patient and won't go in attack mode early but he has the power to hurt you whenever he lands clean, I think Spelman will maybe take it late but still fancy Yarde inside the distance, too much of everything for Spelman

[liamlion]

Main event is a shocker, Spelman was beat up by Arthur, and he's out again very quickly. Surely Yarde is well past this level. A very cynical piece of matchmaking.

Sums it up perfectly. Shocking matchmaking. Yarde’s career doesn’t really make any sense.

[Black Sam Bellamy]

Main event is a shocker, Spelman was beat up by Arthur, and he's out again very quickly. Surely Yarde is well past this level. A very cynical piece of matchmaking.

Sums it up perfectly. Shocking matchmaking. Yarde’s career doesn’t really make any sense.

Don't really have a problem with this fight on the basis of how much time Yarde has been out for. The alternative is to go abroad and match him with the calibre of opponent Dubois and Joyce have had. At least with Spelman you know he has the fundamentals in place.

[Cyclops]

Main event is a shocker, Spelman was beat up by Arthur, and he's out again very quickly. Surely Yarde is well past this level. A very cynical piece of matchmaking.

Sums it up perfectly. Shocking matchmaking. Yarde’s career doesn’t really make any sense.

Don't really care about Yarde. I might have done at one point if he'd been matched with anybody decent ever, other than Sergey. They only rolled the dice with that one because Kovalev was shot.

[maverick23]

Main event is a shocker, Spelman was beat up by Arthur, and he's out again very quickly. Surely Yarde is well past this level. A very cynical piece of matchmaking.

Sums it up perfectly. Shocking matchmaking. Yarde’s career doesn’t really make any sense.

Don't really have a problem with this fight on the basis of how much time Yarde has been out for. The alternative is to go abroad and match him with the calibre of opponent Dubois and Joyce have had. At least with Spelman you know he has the fundamentals in place.

If this was an early fight on the show then I wouldn’t have a massive problem with it but it’s another rubbish main event where the main event is unlikely to be competitive. Yarde is 33/1 on to win, he’s fighting an area title level fighter and we’ve had Dubois, Frampton and Joyce all headlining recent shows in mismatches where the narrative of the fights is who’ll they’ll fight next.

Lots of other fighters are in the same boat as to how long they’ve been away from the ring. Whyte, Povetkin, Taylor. Lomachenko is going straight in to a tough fight. Luke Campbell is too as are many others.

It’s one of my biggest gripes with boxing and particularly with FW shows - we shouldn’t such poor quality main events just to potentially build up a future fight.

Just because the UFC hasn’t had fans doesn’t mean they’ve been shelving big fights and having mismatches - why should boxing?

[Black Sam Bellamy]

Arent all UFC events PPV though ? So they're generating the revenue to put on the better quality of fight without the gate money.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Arent all UFC events PPV though ? So they're generating the revenue to put on the better quality of fight without the gate money.

Usually once a month is PPV. And it’s usually PPV worthy.

Other cards are UFC Fight Night.. in regular ESPN or the app I think. But then again. UFC has a huge contract with ESPN.

[maverick23]

Arent all UFC events PPV though ? So they're generating the revenue to put on the better quality of fight without the gate money.

Usually once a month is PPV. And it’s usually PPV worthy.

Other cards are UFC Fight Night.. in regular ESPN or the app I think. But then again. UFC has a huge contract with ESPN.

Yep and there hasn’t been much of a drop off in the quality of their UFC fight night shows - only issues they have is the lack of availability of some overseas fighters and the amount testing positive for COVID-19.

I saw an interview with FW a couple of weeks back and he said he has the biggest boxing broadcast deal in Europe.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Press Release

THE HEAVYWEIGHT RETURN of Nathan Gorman against Richard Lartey will now take place on October 10, having been pushed back from its original date of September 12.

The Ghanaian’s medicals have not been supplied in time for him to enter the fighter bubble tomorrow and as such the fight will be moved to the undercard of Liam Williams’ mandatory defence of his British title against Andrew Robinson.

Gorman, 16-1, will now feature on a show that also includes Anthony Cacace defending his British super featherweight title against Lyon Woodstock and the Commonwealth super welterweight title clash between the holder JJ Metcalf and challenger Jack Flatley.

Promoter allegedly commented: “Since returning post-lockdown we have always been ready to react to issues as and when they arise. We have been clear that we will always act with fighter and event safety in mind.

It is disappointing that we can’t put on this great fight for fans this weekend, but the show is still an exciting prospect for boxing fans, headlined by the return of Anthony Yarde.

"It is a pity for Nathan that he doesn't get to fight this weekend, but it is only a short delay to what will be a good fight that will go ahead on another strong card on October 10."

[jameswilson]

Spelman dug at Yarde in the presser today saying he’s surrounded by yes men which I think is bang on. Reminds me a lot of that Icelandic strongman Hafthor Bjornsson who has beef with Eddie Hall because Hall won an event which he disputes.

I bet penny for a pound of sh1t that Tunde is in the camera shot during the face off and the post fight interview.

Despite that I don’t give Spellman too much chance.

[magnus]

Sums it up perfectly. Shocking matchmaking. Yarde’s career doesn’t really make any sense.

Don't really have a problem with this fight on the basis of how much time Yarde has been out for. The alternative is to go abroad and match him with the calibre of opponent Dubois and Joyce have had. At least with Spelman you know he has the fundamentals in place.

If this was an early fight on the show then I wouldn’t have a massive problem with it but it’s another rubbish main event where the main event is unlikely to be competitive. Yarde is 33/1 on to win, he’s fighting an area title level fighter and we’ve had Dubois, Frampton and Joyce all headlining recent shows in mismatches where the narrative of the fights is who’ll they’ll fight next.

Lots of other fighters are in the same boat as to how long they’ve been away from the ring. Whyte, Povetkin, Taylor. Lomachenko is going straight in to a tough fight. Luke Campbell is too as are many others.

It’s one of my biggest gripes with boxing and particularly with FW shows - we shouldn’t such poor quality main events just to potentially build up a future fight.

Just because the UFC hasn’t had fans doesn’t mean they’ve been shelving big fights and having mismatches - why should boxing?

This x1000. It's too often "the next fight" as far as boxing matchmaking goes.

[Ruthless-RKO]

[handsofstone]

Tunde blocked me on Twitter ages ago, i forgot he was even a thing

[Ruthless-RKO]

Anthony Yarde Vows To Entertain in Spelman Clash, Outdo Arthur

There are a few names that keep getting mentioned as part of Anthony Yarde’s future, although he insists that he is not thinking about any of them right now. Only one man is in his sights, Dec Spelman, and had already publicly talked down Spelman’s threat, the pressure is on him perform.

Yarde, who unsuccessfully challenged Sergey Kovalev for the WBO light-heavyweight title, faces Spelman, the former English champion at York Hall in London on Saturday. Spelman has been a busy man post lockdown, having lost a one-sided decision to Lyndon Arthur last month.

With Arthur lined up to face Yarde next month, BT Sport got an instant reaction from Yarde who was watching at home. He was damning, accusing Arthur of being boring and asking where he should send the invoice for being forced to watch.

“Sometimes you just say what is on your mind,” Yarde said. “I just made the comment that I was very bored watching the fight, who do I send the invoice to. But all jokes aside, if it was me in there and Spelman was just walking forward taking shots, he wouldn’t have lasted that long.”

Arthur, the Commonwealth champion, had, according to Yarde, neglected his duty to entertain the fans.

“Based on the performance that Dec Spelman gave and based on the way Lyndon Arthur was boxing, it was a fight that was only leading one way,” Yarde said.

“At one point Dec Spelman’s corner was going to take him out because he was just taking shots. In that situation, the fans want to see a stoppage win or a knockout, they want some sort of entertainment. I know he is going to be playing it safe because he has got the fight with me, but at the same time this is an entertainment sport.”

He also believes that Arthur wasted a chance to get fans excited in a future fight against him, one which was originally scheduled for April but is currently due to take place in October.

“The way I saw it was, there is a fight happening between Anthony Yarde and Lyndon Arthur and they had this fight to showcase Lyndon Arthur, the skills he has and his knockout power to make the fight exciting, that is what the fans are going to buy into.” Yarde said.

“He has a fight with me, but he has a job to do in terms of entertaining, so people can look at him and think ‘he could give Anthony some problems’. But I didn’t feel he did that and that’s not selling the fight. It’s a business as the end of the day and if I had been in that situation, I would have definitely gone for the knockout.

“Boxing is a sport that is so unpredictable, there are people who would have favoured Lyndon Arthur from the beginning, there are people who will favour him after that performance, there are people who will have changed their mind after that performance. It is just boxing. Some people will say he has a good jab and that will affect Anthony. The only way they will find out is if they tune in on the night.”

Arthur is not the only name Yarde had been associated with. Before the COVID-19 lockdown – during which Yarde’s father and grandmother both died from the virus – Yarde had been lined up to fight Joe Smith Jr for the vacant WBO title. Fellow unbeaten Londoner Joshua Buatsi is also an opponent that has been talked about, a fight he believes will happen, but not yet.

“I’m not overlooking Dec Spelman, he is my only focus right now,” Yarde said. “I’m not thinking about Lyndon Arthur, Buatsi or anyone else. I’ve got a job to do and I take it very seriously.”

After being stopped in the 11th round by Kovalev in Russia, last August, Yarde had a lowkey return to the ring in Spain in February but, despite criticising Arthur for not attempting to stop Spelman, he is not expecting a quick night himself.

“I haven’t boxed in a televised fight for over 12 months, so it is the biggest break in my career,” Yarde said. “I need all the experience I can get. I am not looking at Dec Spelman as if he is a fighter I can just walk through. I don’t go out looking for knockouts.

“The thing I learnt the most from the Kovalev fight, in all my other fights, when I hurt my opponent I was composed, but because this was such a big fight, I lost my cool, I started fighting with emotion instead of using my common sense and tactics to break him down.

“I’m not going out swinging recklessly and looking for a knockout early, I am just going to go and do what I do and I believe the knockout is going to come.”

[THEBUTCH]

It's another career with FW that bears all the hallmarks of "the next fight" syndrome

Spellman should have been the sort of opposition Yarde faced post Southern Area title win and definitely pre Kovalev.

The Yarde-Buatsi fights is miles away. Yarde has said himself that the fight must have a crowd, so it's all just bluster from FW.

This isn't the worst match in the world but a main event live on BT.....come on, please !

[Ruthless-RKO]

Official weights below:

Anthony Yarde 12st 11lb 12oz
Dec Spelman 12st 12lb

Mark Heffron 11st 5lb 9oz
Denzel Bentley 11st 5lb 4oz

Ekow Essuman 10st 6lb 11oz
Cedrick Peynaud 10st 6lb 5oz

Mohammed Bilal Ali 9st 8lb 4oz
Ed Harrison 9st 5lb 9oz

Josh Frankham 11st 8oz
Kev McAuley 11st 2lb

[MightyWarrior]

Bentley v Heffron looks a good one, 50/50 two prospects very unusual on a FW show lately ..both heavy handed. What’s the deal here isn't FW connected with both fighters?

The more experienced Heffron is a slight fave