Artur Beterbiev vs. Anthony Yarde | ESPN - January 28, 2023

[Evander]

Weigh in Friday

[adislav123]

Weigh in Friday

fight saturday.

[margaret thatcher]

grass is green

[Thomastearns]

Yard is big, fresh, fast, can whack and is tough. I kinda said the same about joe smith but I still think yard should just throw some crazy heat early. Treat it like a 4 round war.

Yes, he should.

I always wanted others like Frank Bruno to fight like that.

What's the point of trying to go 12 if you're most likely going to get outboxed?

Especially when a 4 round war is 50/50.

[JohnP2]

Man, my only concern is AB’s defense, which has waned the past few years. He opens himself up with one of his signature punches (lead right downstairs). Two forward fighters I think it will come down to who makes the other fight off back foot, which neither excel at IMO.
INITIALLY I thought AB would dawg walk Yarde. but at some point AB’s age will show. It’s just a matter of when and how much. I still think it’s a 60/40 fight AB win by TKO.
This is good though as I am really getting geeked up for this fight.

[Ruthless-RKO]

[Evander]

Weigh in Friday

fight saturday.

Odds been coming down on Beterbiev, he opened at -1000 and now sits at -700.
Still a strong favourite though.

[Ruthless-RKO]

[Thomastearns]

No doubt the Yarde team will be familiar with this video.

Whether he will win or not Anthony Yarde can certainly do better than Callum Johnson.

[joshj909]

No doubt the Yarde team will be familiar with this video.

Whether he will win or not Anthony Yarde can certainly do better than Callum Johnson.

Not sure I could see Yarde taking the shots than Johnson took and stay standing. A flash KO is surely all that Yarde can do to win.

[KiwiRider]

Weigh in Friday

fight saturday.

Odds been coming down on Beterbiev, he opened at -1000 and now sits at -700.
Still a strong favourite though.

I gots me tenner on Yarde when it was -903

[KiwiRider]

Beterbiev is such a young 38, it's really amazing.
But there has to be a limit.

[DrDuke]

Beterbiev is such a young 38, it's really amazing.
But there has to be a limit.

Boxing and life quality in general is different now. Better medicine and nutrition, better PEDs. In addition to that, with time boxing is becoming sport of hitting and not getting hit instead of simple fighting. Boxers often adapt pragmatic styles with the minimum of risk taken.

Look at Bert's career. Barely he went life-and-death with anyone in the ring. However, in his particular case the power is also a big factor. When they go toe-to-toe with Bert, they end up destroyed.

[gilgamesh]

Power punching, aggressive styles tend to age better in the ring than Fast, slickster types too. Once the reflexes and speed starts to go those guys diminish a lot, but aggressive power fighters...well as they say power is the last thing to go.

[apollo creed]

Yarde's resume is weak and Beterbiev even if he is 38 y/o he TKTFO'ed Joe Smith last year. Beterbiev by stoppage.

[apollo creed]

Beterbiev is such a young 38, it's really amazing.
But there has to be a limit.

Boxing and life quality in general is different now. Better medicine and nutrition, better PEDs. In addition to that, with time boxing is becoming sport of hitting and not getting hit instead of simple fighting. Boxers often adapt pragmatic styles with the minimum of risk taken.

Look at Bert's career. Barely he went life-and-death with anyone in the ring. However, in his particular case the power is also a big factor. When they go toe-to-toe with Bert, they end up destroyed.

Marcus Browne accidentally made Beterbiev to go somehow life-and-death bc of that nasty cut.

[apollo creed]

Power punching, aggressive styles tend to age better in the ring than Fast, slickster types too. Once the reflexes and speed starts to go those guys diminish a lot, but aggressive power fighters...well as they say power is the last thing to go.

Thats true. Beterbiev's style of fighting and crazy power is ageing good. One interesting thing is that Beterbiev is generating his insane power in short-compact punches which helps him a lot to not leave himself wide open.

[Ruthless-RKO]

[Ruthless-RKO]

Kovalev told RingIQ TV: “He’s very naturally strong and physically strong, and right now, he has a very big experience from amateur and more than ten fights in the pro and all fights finished by KO.

“Anthony Yarde in my opinion isn’t ready right now to fight Artur Beterbiev because he didn’t have a test like in real fights. When he fought me, I was drained of energy because I lost a lot of pounds for the light heavyweight division; I should have moved up to the next division because it’s not possible to make 175, and 2019 was for me the hardest year of my boxing career.

“My first fight was scheduled for June and then rescheduled for August. It was a very hard year for me. That was three and a half years ago, and he got more experience for this fight, more physically in conditioning.

“I think it’s going to be an interesting fight, but in my opinion, Artur will smash him. I was in trouble when I fought Anthony Yarde. I was in trouble in round number seven or eight because I was drained of my energy by losing weight.

“I lost more than 15 pounds for this fight. He couldn’t stop me. What I think so, Artur will finish him in the middle of the fight. It’s boxing.

“I’m interested in watching this too. In my opinion, Artur is naturally strong and mentally he has the background that is very, very big in two Olympic games, and world championship. He has big experience and mentally more older than Anthony Yarde.

“Not later than six. I think so, five, six. They’re both big, strong and smart.

“Therefore, it’s an interesting fight, but I think so, Beterbiev will smash him before the middle of the fight. Everything depends on setting it up.

“If Artur is rating him enough and will be ready for the fight, yeah, I think it’s going to be a win for Artur. Also, if Anthony is going to be ready for this fight but mentally, it’s the most important to be ready mentally. If he can be ready mentally, he can show his big heart, but we’ll see.”

[Ruthless-RKO]

WEIGH-IN REPORT FROM LONDON

WBC/IBF/WBO light heavyweight titles — 12 rounds
Artur Beterbiev 174.5 pounds vs. Anthony Yarde 174.25
Judges: Jerome Lades, Jun Bae Lim and Robin Taylor. Referee: Steve Gray;

WBA flyweight championship — 12 rounds
Artem Dalakian 111.6 vs. David Jimenez 111.1

Moses Itauma 248 vs. Marcel Bode 220 (heavyweights — 4 rounds);

Tommy Fletcher 199.4 vs. Darryl Sharp 188.5 (cruiserweights — 6 rounds);

Karol Itauma 174.1 vs. Ezequiel Maderna 174.7 (light heavyweights — 10 rounds).

[Evander]

Not much to take away from the weigh in.
Beterbiev 174.5 Pounds
Yarde 174.2 Pounds
Yarde was in great shape, Beterbiev looked lean and tight.

Presser the night before was a bit eventful however long it lasted.
The host Dev Sahni asked a daft question of Beterbiev, in laymans terms he asked him outright if he intended to stop Yarde during the early rounds.
His exact words were "On Saturday do you want to do your job early".
Kin ell, he's the host not the press and us in the peanut gallery.

[Evander]

It's encouraging to see Yarde in this kind of shape and mindset.
It's looking to be a decent fight on the face of it.

[lazboy]

I don’t think Yarde has a chance, especially if he’s retained his silly, delusional trainer from the Kovalev fight.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Stats and Stakes

Artur Beterbiev

Age: 38
Titles: IBF Light Heavyweight (2017-Present, 6 Defenses); Lineal/TBRB/WBC Light Heavyweight (2019-Present, 3 Defenses); WBO Light Heavyweight (2022-Present, 1st Attempted Defense)
Previous Titles: None
Height: 5’11 ½
Weight: 174 ½ lbs.
Stance: Orthodox
Hails from: Khasavyurt, Russia
Record: 18-0, 18 KO
Record in Major Title Fights: 7-0, 7 KO
Last Five Opponents: 112-6-1 (.945)
Notable Outcomes, TBRB and/or Ring Rated Foes: Tavoris Cloud KO2; Gabriel Campillo KO4; Oleksandr Gvozdyk TKO10; Marcus Browne KO9; Joe Smith Jr. TKO2
Additional Current/Former Titlists Faced: None

vs.

Anthony Yarde

Age: 31
Current Title/Previous Titles: None
Height: 6’0
Weight: 174 ¼ lbs.
Stance: Orthodox
Hails from: Ilford, Essex, United Kingdom
Record: 23-2, 22 KO, 1 KOBY
Press Rankings: #6 (TBRB), #7 (Ring, ESPN), #8 (ESPN)
Record in Major Title Fights: 0-1, 1 KOBY
Last Five Opponents: 89-10 (.900)
Notable Outcomes, TBRB and/or Ring Rated Foes: Sergey Kovalev TKO by 11; Lyndon Arthur KO4
Additional Current/Former Titlists Faced: None

[Ruthless-RKO]

Predictions

Welterweight world champion Errol Spence Jr: "I'm rocking with Yarde. Father Time is undefeated, I don't care. It's only a matter of time [before Beterbiev] looks his age in the ring."

Former world super-welterweight champion Hannah Rankin: "I'm going to go Beterbiev on points. There will be some knockdowns, I think there could be a knockdown on both sides.

"At first I was very much like Beterbiev [by] knockout [in] later rounds, but Yarde has got such a solid chin, I don't think he'll be wanting in fitness levels for this one. It could go the distance, but Yarde gets outworked."

Yarde's promoter allegedly: "Odds are there to be challenged and I feel Anthony will do it. I really do feel he has the ability to do it."

Beterbiev's coach John Scully: "I've never been a guy to predict. But I'm not expecting to lose. I look at everything and Yarde broke down against Sergey Kovalev and the pace of that fight was not that intense. I think he'll find out very quickly that the intensity level will be a million times higher. If he can deal with that, more power to him."

Lightweight Sam Noakes: "I think Yarde's definitely in it. I think the later it goes on the more Beterbiev takes over. I want Yarde to win, but he's got a big test in front of him."

Featherweight Raven Chapman: "I've gone with Yarde pulling off the upset in five to six rounds."

Beterbiev's promoter Bob Arum: "I'm prejudiced so I think Artur wins and wins by knockout. He could win by a late knockout or an early knockout depending upon [how] Yarde is fighting."

Boxing analyst Barry Jones: "As with Sergey Kovalev in Russia, this is another monumental task, even more so, and you have to admire Yarde for that."

Light-heavyweight Callum Johnson: "I can't see anything other than a Beterbiev win."

Yarde's coach Tunde Ajayi: "Anthony could go out there and put on a boxing masterclass. I'm so excited. Saturday night can't come quick enough."