Artur Beterbiev vs. Anthony Yarde | BT Sport - 28 January 2023

[Coco]

How Yarde a fighter who has never beaten anybody above domestic/journeyman level has managed to get 2 world title opportunities is a mystery.

Or an example of boxing corruption at it's finest.

He put up a decent show in his previous world title fight and there’s every chance he’ll put up a better show in this one than Beterbiev’s previous opponent did.

And he is likely to lose while going out on his shield which makes him ideal as an opponent

[margaret thatcher]

i didnt think yarde gave it a good go vs kov, he basically had 1 big round and spent the rest of the fight shelled up. after the big round he went straight back to being in his shell then got ko'd soon after

[maverick23]

i didnt think yarde gave it a good go vs kov, he basically had 1 big round and spent the rest of the fight shelled up. after the big round he went straight back to being in his shell then got ko'd soon after

That was my take too. He won one or two rounds the whole fight. If he hadn’t have had that big round then it would have been talked about as a one sided, fairly dull fight.

[Cent0089]

Any news about this ?

[maverick23]

Any news about this ?

None.

Apparently Yarde is fighting in a warm up in November whilst Beterbiev recovers from a minor injury so that’s something to get excited about

[gregregegg]

Hope its not a full can. Rocky feilding or callum johnson would be alright. but if its some retired estonian featherweight that got fat then ill be sad.

[maverick23]

Hope its not a full can. Rocky feilding or callum johnson would be alright. but if its some retired estonian featherweight that got fat then ill be sad.

It’ll be an average at best opponent. I think Frank’s probably wanting to do a big show as PPV with Dubois headlining.

Yarde was interviewed last week and was asked why he didn’t want to fight Buatsi next. He essentially said that he’s not going to take a big fight like that when he’s in-line for Beterbiev. Buatsi would be a fairly high risk fight for really good money so he’s not going to take a similar risky fight for less.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Frank has confirmed the date..
will Yarde still fight next month then?

[Manchester Hitman]

Frank has confirmed the date..
will Yarde still fight next month then?

Yes, Frank will find a Lithuanian midget from somewhere

[dr_devious]

Probably from Lithuania

[Ruthless-RKO]

Artur Beterbiev-Anthony Yarde being planned for Jan. 28, assuming Yarde wins Nov. tuneup

The rescheduled unified light heavyweight championship fight between Artur Beterbiev and Anthony Yarde is being planned for Jan. 28 in London, promoter allegedly told IFL TV on Monday.

First, Yarde must emerge victorious -- and uninjured -- from a Nov. 19 tuneup bout in the U.K. against an opponent to be determined.

Beterbiev (18-0, 18 KOs) was slated to defend his three 175-pound titles against Yarde on Oct. 29 before the Russian underwent right knee surgery.

The procedure was performed after Beterbiev's second-round TKO of Joe Smith Jr., which added a third title to his collection.

"I am delighted to be getting Anthony Yarde out in a keep-busy fight ahead of his world title challenge in January," Warren said last week. "There is always the temptation to simply play the waiting game, but, with Artur Beterbiev not currently available due to injury, Anthony needs some time in the ring."

Beterbiev, a 37-year-old Russian Canadian, is boxing's only champion with a stoppage victory in every professional fight. Beterbiev is ESPN's No. 1 boxer at 175 pounds and No. 7 pound-for-pound.

Yarde (22-2, 21 KOs) scored a fourth-round KO of Lyndon Arthur in a December rematch that avenged a 2020 defeat and earned him a mandatory title shot.

The 31-year-old from London suffered an 11th-round TKO against Sergey Kovalev in 2019, his lone title challenge.

[Cent0089]

Any news about this ?

[Ruthless-RKO]

Any news about this ?

Last I head this is the date.

[Cent0089]

Any news about this ?

Last I head this is the date.

I actually love this fight

[maverick23]

I’m a little surprised they haven’t announced this yet. Perhaps they’re waiting for their other London shows this year to pass before announcing.

Is there any chance they’d risk putting this on PPV?!

[The Gratest]

Same here. Both have a fair dig and Beterbiev has tasted the canvas previously. I think he's more open than Kovalev, prefers to fight up close rather than at range, possibly more suited for Yarde than Kov was.
Although that could just result in a quicker stoppage rather than a systematic breakdown?
I don't think this one's going the distance either way, hoping Yarde can pull it off.

[Manchester Hitman]

I’m a little surprised they haven’t announced this yet. Perhaps they’re waiting for their other London shows this year to pass before announcing.

Is there any chance they’d risk putting this on PPV?!

This will definitely be PPV when considering the amount of money it would cost BT/BrickTop to stage the fight over here. It must be at least $3-4m to pay both. I can see them announcing straight after Yarde beats up this road sweeper in a few weeks and maybe getting Beterbiev over for the Fury fight week with Arum as all the media will be about.

[maverick23]

I’m a little surprised they haven’t announced this yet. Perhaps they’re waiting for their other London shows this year to pass before announcing.

Is there any chance they’d risk putting this on PPV?!

This will definitely be PPV when considering the amount of money it would cost BT/BrickTop to stage the fight over here. It must be at least $3-4m to pay both. I can see them announcing straight after Yarde beats up this road sweeper in a few weeks and maybe getting Beterbiev over for the Fury fight week with Arum as all the media will be about.

Is Yarde a big enough name to sell a PPV? He didn’t even sell out the Copper Box for his rematch with Arthur.

It’s a good fight but I think they’d be better off making it free to air and if Yarde wins then look to make the PPV fights after it as he’d be a much bigger name.

I think if they go PPV then it does less than 100k buys. Unless it’s a really struggling undercard I’d be inclined not to buy it too.

Bob would pay a good chunk of Beterbiev’s purse as it’ll still be shown on ESPN in the states, I’d imagine they’d sell 10,000 or so tickets and they have rights fees for the U.K. and Russia. They’d be able to make it work financially without it being on PPV I think. Just depends if they’re greedy and over-estimate the draw of the fight.

[Ruthless-RKO]

If it’s PPV then it’s just greed!

[maverick23]

Beterbiev and Marcus Browne went to purse bids last year. Both Top Rank and PBC went for it and the total purse was $1.1m so Beterbiev got $770k.

Yarde isn’t a big commercial draw, he lost in a Commonwealth title fight 3 fights back. I genuinely can’t see any reason why they can’t make this on regular BT Sports.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Yeh. Beterbiev’s purse for Gvoz was $1.5 million.

Gvoz got the same.

I don’t think they’re big earners in general these 2..

Yarde should be happy with a £1m purse max!

He probably got less for Kov.

[Manchester Hitman]

I’m a little surprised they haven’t announced this yet. Perhaps they’re waiting for their other London shows this year to pass before announcing.

Is there any chance they’d risk putting this on PPV?!

This will definitely be PPV when considering the amount of money it would cost BT/BrickTop to stage the fight over here. It must be at least $3-4m to pay both. I can see them announcing straight after Yarde beats up this road sweeper in a few weeks and maybe getting Beterbiev over for the Fury fight week with Arum as all the media will be about.

Is Yarde a big enough name to sell a PPV? He didn’t even sell out the Copper Box for his rematch with Arthur.

It’s a good fight but I think they’d be better off making it free to air and if Yarde wins then look to make the PPV fights after it as he’d be a much bigger name.

I think if they go PPV then it does less than 100k buys. Unless it’s a really struggling undercard I’d be inclined not to buy it too.

Bob would pay a good chunk of Beterbiev’s purse as it’ll still be shown on ESPN in the states, I’d imagine they’d sell 10,000 or so tickets and they have rights fees for the U.K. and Russia. They’d be able to make it work financially without it being on PPV I think. Just depends if they’re greedy and over-estimate the draw of the fight.

The 02 will be sold out for the fight. Yarde does big no’s on BT, but obviously hasn’t been on PPV yet so it’s hard to gauge what it would do. It will definitely be a PPV though, there’s little doubt about it in my mind. Yes, Arum will kick in a few quid, but there no way BT are looking to cover the costs out of their budget - they would be looking to pass this onto the the public unfortunately.

Perhaps there’s an obvious example I’m missing, but I can’t recall the last time a fight of this size/purse costs being on standard Sky / BT?

With what’s going on, the promoters will probably have lost the ability to sell rights fees to Russia aswell, so that’s less potential international money,

I would imagine the sales target would be 100-150k to make it work, and they have the promotional material to market the fight with the fighters involved.

[maverick23]

This will definitely be PPV when considering the amount of money it would cost BT/BrickTop to stage the fight over here. It must be at least $3-4m to pay both. I can see them announcing straight after Yarde beats up this road sweeper in a few weeks and maybe getting Beterbiev over for the Fury fight week with Arum as all the media will be about.

Is Yarde a big enough name to sell a PPV? He didn’t even sell out the Copper Box for his rematch with Arthur.

It’s a good fight but I think they’d be better off making it free to air and if Yarde wins then look to make the PPV fights after it as he’d be a much bigger name.

I think if they go PPV then it does less than 100k buys. Unless it’s a really struggling undercard I’d be inclined not to buy it too.

Bob would pay a good chunk of Beterbiev’s purse as it’ll still be shown on ESPN in the states, I’d imagine they’d sell 10,000 or so tickets and they have rights fees for the U.K. and Russia. They’d be able to make it work financially without it being on PPV I think. Just depends if they’re greedy and over-estimate the draw of the fight.

The 02 will be sold out for the fight. Yarde does big no’s on BT, but obviously hasn’t been on PPV yet so it’s hard to gauge what it would do. It will definitely be a PPV though, there’s little doubt about it in my mind. Yes, Arum will kick in a few quid, but there no way BT are looking to cover the costs out of their budget - they would be looking to pass this onto the the public unfortunately.

Perhaps there’s an obvious example I’m missing, but I can’t recall the last time a fight of this size/purse costs being on standard Sky / BT?

With what’s going on, the promoters will probably have lost the ability to sell rights fees to Russia aswell, so that’s less potential international money,

I would imagine the sales target would be 100-150k to make it work, and they have the promotional material to market the fight with the fighters involved.

You might be right re: the O2 selling it. There’s just little to base that on given how Yarde has sold in the past. A bit like Joe Joyce when they matched him with Parker.

What are the BT rating stats that show Yarde does big numbers?

Re: similar size fights, I’d probably the last one that springs to mind is perhaps Taylor vs Catterall. Also Marshall/Shields were both supposedly paid 7 figures each.

If 100k-150k is the aim then all that tells me is that it’s not big enough to be PPV.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Is Yarde a big enough name to sell a PPV? He didn’t even sell out the Copper Box for his rematch with Arthur.

It’s a good fight but I think they’d be better off making it free to air and if Yarde wins then look to make the PPV fights after it as he’d be a much bigger name.

I think if they go PPV then it does less than 100k buys. Unless it’s a really struggling undercard I’d be inclined not to buy it too.

Bob would pay a good chunk of Beterbiev’s purse as it’ll still be shown on ESPN in the states, I’d imagine they’d sell 10,000 or so tickets and they have rights fees for the U.K. and Russia. They’d be able to make it work financially without it being on PPV I think. Just depends if they’re greedy and over-estimate the draw of the fight.

The 02 will be sold out for the fight. Yarde does big no’s on BT, but obviously hasn’t been on PPV yet so it’s hard to gauge what it would do. It will definitely be a PPV though, there’s little doubt about it in my mind. Yes, Arum will kick in a few quid, but there no way BT are looking to cover the costs out of their budget - they would be looking to pass this onto the the public unfortunately.

Perhaps there’s an obvious example I’m missing, but I can’t recall the last time a fight of this size/purse costs being on standard Sky / BT?

With what’s going on, the promoters will probably have lost the ability to sell rights fees to Russia aswell, so that’s less potential international money,

I would imagine the sales target would be 100-150k to make it work, and they have the promotional material to market the fight with the fighters involved.

You might be right re: the O2 selling it. There’s just little to base that on given how Yarde has sold in the past. A bit like Joe Joyce when they matched him with Parker.

What are the BT rating stats that show Yarde does big numbers?

Re: similar size fights, I’d probably the last one that springs to mind is perhaps Taylor vs Catterall. Also Marshall/Shields were both supposedly paid 7 figures each.

If 100k-150k is the aim then all that tells me is that it’s not big enough to be PPV.

I used to follow average viewers a few years back.. his cards used to average less than and around the 100k mark.

I know it’s an average.. but it gives you an idea.

[Manchester Hitman]

Is Yarde a big enough name to sell a PPV? He didn’t even sell out the Copper Box for his rematch with Arthur.

It’s a good fight but I think they’d be better off making it free to air and if Yarde wins then look to make the PPV fights after it as he’d be a much bigger name.

I think if they go PPV then it does less than 100k buys. Unless it’s a really struggling undercard I’d be inclined not to buy it too.

Bob would pay a good chunk of Beterbiev’s purse as it’ll still be shown on ESPN in the states, I’d imagine they’d sell 10,000 or so tickets and they have rights fees for the U.K. and Russia. They’d be able to make it work financially without it being on PPV I think. Just depends if they’re greedy and over-estimate the draw of the fight.

The 02 will be sold out for the fight. Yarde does big no’s on BT, but obviously hasn’t been on PPV yet so it’s hard to gauge what it would do. It will definitely be a PPV though, there’s little doubt about it in my mind. Yes, Arum will kick in a few quid, but there no way BT are looking to cover the costs out of their budget - they would be looking to pass this onto the the public unfortunately.

Perhaps there’s an obvious example I’m missing, but I can’t recall the last time a fight of this size/purse costs being on standard Sky / BT?

With what’s going on, the promoters will probably have lost the ability to sell rights fees to Russia aswell, so that’s less potential international money,

I would imagine the sales target would be 100-150k to make it work, and they have the promotional material to market the fight with the fighters involved.

You might be right re: the O2 selling it. There’s just little to base that on given how Yarde has sold in the past. A bit like Joe Joyce when they matched him with Parker.

What are the BT rating stats that show Yarde does big numbers?

Re: similar size fights, I’d probably the last one that springs to mind is perhaps Taylor vs Catterall. Also Marshall/Shields were both supposedly paid 7 figures each.

If 100k-150k is the aim then all that tells me is that it’s not big enough to be PPV.

Beterbiev- Yarde is a much bigger commercial fight than Taylor - Catteral. Probably costs more than double in purse as well, but I get the comparison.

I will see if I can find them, but I did see some of the ratings somewhere a while ago. From memory; Kovalev - Yarde did a huge no for BT as you can imagine. I think the first Arthur fight was second only to Dubois-Joyce in the highest rated subscription TV fight that year. Arthur 2 was up there too and I think it was only beaten by a Sky fight which may also have been on Sky mix, so basically it was freeview.