Beterbiev vs. Yarde Preview
A dynamic light heavyweight title fight will take place in London at the OVO Arena on Saturday, January 28th. Artur Beterbiev will defend his WBC, WBO and IBF titles against British fighter and former title challenger Anthony Yarde.
Beterbiev (18-0, 18 KO) is coming off a title fight last June where he defeated Joe Smith Jr. by second round TKO defending the WBC and IBF belts, while winning the WBO title. The 38-year-old has been the IBF champion since 2017 and has held the WBC belt since 2019, with a total of six successful title defenses.
The Russian is expecting a good fight against Yarde. “I never do predictions for my past fights, and I not do now too, but it’s going to be a good fight. Coming to see the fight now is good. I’m looking for the good box, said Beterbiev.
The champion was asked if he as studied his opponent, “Yes, we watched his fights. Good fights.”
“We did some analysis and did some points. We’re preparing.”
The champion continued, “When I watch fights, I don’t do it like a regular person. When I watch fights, I do it for technical work, like how it’s going. Not like regular person. When I watch fights, I take some information for me and take it for our team.”
Beterbiev has been asked how long he will continue to fight win or lose on Saturday. “Anthony Yarde, Saturday night. I’m not dreaming about someone to have fight, you know. If we have some fights coming (down the line) we will be thinking and we will take them if it’s a good fight,” he said.
Aside from Smith Jr, Beterbiev has key victories in his career over Marcus Browne, Oleksandr Gvozdyk, Callum Johnson, Enrico Kölling and Gabriel Campillo. A win on Saturday could result in a unification bout with the winner of Dmitry Bivol vs. Canelo Alvarez.
Yarde (23-2, 22 KO) has won three straight fights and previously unsuccessfully challenged for the WBO title back in 2019 in one of the best fights of the year against Sergey Kovalev. In his last fight he defeated Stefani Koykov by third round KO which took place in November.
The 31-year-old is confident, but knows he is in for a tough fight on Saturday. “He’s a world champion, he’s the current unified world champion,” said Yarde. “If you look at what he’s accomplished so far, it’s amazing, and that’s what amps me up. So, again, I beat him, I deserve some respect.
“He’s never been in a situation where he’s lost. But for me, it’s all about me. That’s the way I am. That’s the way I operate. It’s about me and my legacy. He’s just the person with the belts, Yarde said.
In his previous title challenge Yarde had to go into enemy territory, while he will have the home field advantage in this fight. He commented on fighting in London vs. Russia. “I just feel like this one feels right. This one feels better. [The Sergey Kovalev fight] didn’t. All that matters is when we get in that ring. Everything that’s said before is all he said, she said possibilities and things like that. When we get in the ring, that’s when we’ll see. I’m ready. I just feel like it’s that time.”
The British fighter knows he must take his time against Beterbiev. "You've got to pick someone apart and then land the shots. I said this early on, my thing is I am a powerful, accurate puncher. I find the shot and, when I find it and land it, people are going to feel it,” he said.
He went on to address his critics before the fight. "If I listened to everyone that was saying things I would not be where I am today. When I started boxing people said all sorts of things until I would do it.”
"It is a compromise, you can't please everybody, in boxing or any sport, really.”
Yarde has been a busy fighter in his career, but he will enter this fight having only fought once in 2022. Beterbiev does represent the biggest victory of his career and it will represent his emergence as one of the best light heavyweights in the world.
The main card can been seen on ESPN + at 3:00pm ET
