Yarde: I have no fear, no doubts going up against Beterbiev
Anthony Yarde says he respects Artur Beterbiev’s perfect KO record, but it’s nothing that he’s concerned over.
Anthony Yarde tells ESPN that he knows exactly what he’s up against heading into this weekend’s light heavyweight fight against champion Artur Beterbiev. To this point in Beterbiev’s 18 professional fights, each and every one of them have ended by stoppage, but Yarde says that’s not something that even concerns him in the slightest.
In particular Yarde would discuss how he’s no stranger to dangerous situations and this fight doesn’t exactly measure up to past situations he’s been in before.
“If he’s a wrecking ball I’m going to be the wall that breaks the wrecking ball. I don’t fear no human, I’ve been faced by men with guns and knives when I’ve been outnumbered and to me that’s something to get scared of. All that fear stuff is not in me, I’ve shown my character by going out to Russia to fight Sergey Kovalev in 2019, and if it was Beterbiev I would have done the same. Fear doesn’t live in my body, fear is doubt and I don’t doubt myself.”
Yarde would continue by saying he’s sure the outcome of this fight will end up being his favor, and that he sees himself raising up three major world titles by the end of the evening. And while Yarde may have come up short at the world title level when he was beaten by Sergey Kovalev, he thinks Kovalev presented some stylistic nuances that he won’t see from Beterbiev.
According to Yarde’s assessment of both fighters, Kovalev has the snappier jab to go along with better movement, whereas he sees Beterbiev as being more stationary and willing to come forward more. To that end Yarde believes Beterbiev will end up being easier to hit than Kovalev was, and believes that along with his own personal improvements will be the difference-maker in this particular fight.
If Yarde can pull off the upset this weekend, he’ll not only have a handful of titles, but also a lot more options for bigger paydays moving forward.