Beterbiev Remains Focused on Dmitry Bivol after Knocking Out Anthony Yarde

It took almost eight rounds for the undefeated Russian of Chechen descent, Artur Beterbiev, to win his nineteenth consecutive victory by way of knockout. The victim: thirty-one-year-old Brit Anthony Yarde who was offered up to the 175-pound champion of three world organizations.

There were seven exciting rounds in which Yarde (23-3, 22 KOs) not only resisted the constant and devastating jabs along with the powerful right overhands of Beterbiev (19- 0, 19 KOs), but also worked the body effectively of the only world champion who has won all of his fights within the distance.

In a fight that had good moments for both fighters, which the crowd at OVO Arena in Wembley fully enjoyed, Beterbiev’s strong and repeated blows gradually undermined the resistance of Yarde. In the eighth round, Beterbiev connected a powerful short right hand to the jaw of the challenger, who took a couple of wobbly steps back. Immediately afterwards, a right hand knocked Yarde down, which prompted referee Steve Gray to make the regulatory count, while the boxer remained on his hands and knees on the mat.

Yarde returned to his feet, but a string of blows from Beterbiev forced Tunde Ajayi, the Brit’s coach, to request an end to the butchery. There were 59 seconds remaining in the eighth round.

At the conclusion of the fight, while still in the ring and with a deep wound on his left eyelid, thirty-eight-year-old Beterbiev spoke kindly of Yarde, “He’s a good guy, I wished him well in the future and said he still has time because he is 31. Today is a win for me and it’s an experience for him. He is young and has the potential to be a world champion, he got knocked out today, but this is a good experience.”

Yarde seemed to be in good spirits after the fight. He stated, “I’m very ambitious, I’ve got a winner’s mentality. I really wanted to win and bring home the unified championship of the world, but that’s boxing. I’ve grown a lot since the loss to Kovalev, but in boxing sometimes God gives these battles to the strongest of warriors.”

Yarde, who is at the top of the WBO rankings and third in the WBC and IBF, gave a magnificent effort that will undoubtedly allow him to face the most renowned boxers of the light heavyweight division.

Coincidentally, Yarde’s last defeat by TKO was also to a Russian. Yarde faced Sergey Kovalev (35-4-1, 29 KOs) in Chelyabinsk, Russia on August 24, 2019, where he suffered a loss by TKO in the eleventh round. Kovalev was making his first defense of the WBO belt now held by Beterbiev.

What’s next for Beterbiev? “I want Bivol,” Beterbiev said. “Right now, it’s everything. In that fight, we’ll have four belts. It’s really a good fight, I think. For the last few years, he says he wants to fight, wants to fight,” Beterbiev said. “But in this period, I get two more belts from other world champions. They came to fight, but him, I don’t know. I don’t know what he’s thinking about.  It’s really important for me, but if it’s not gonna happen, I’m not crying.”

Bivol (21-0, 11 KOs), who holds the WBA super-champion belt, seems more focused on a rematch against Mexican Saúl “Canelo” Álvarez (58-2-2, 39 KOs).

Bivol defeated Canelo by unanimous decision on May 7th at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. He now insists that he could cross gloves again with Canelo, but it would be for Canelo’s four 168-pound titles since he has no interest in repeating the clash at 175 pounds.

After beating Canelo, Bivol comprehensively out-pointed the then undefeated Mexican Gilberto Ramírez (44-1, 30 KOs) on November 5^th at the Etihad Arena, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Two months earlier, on September 17th, Canelo defeated Kazakh Gennady Golovkin (42-2-1, 37 KOs) at the T-Mobile Arena in their third faceoff. Their first fight in September of 2017 ended in a draw, with Canelo winning the second by majority decision a year later.

A few weeks after the fight against GGG, Canelo underwent wrist surgery to repair an injury which he said had limited him in the fight with Bivol.

There is uncertainty whether the match between Beterbiev and Bivol will materialize since Canelo has southpaw John Ryder (32-5, 18 KOs) in his immediate future, possibly in May, according to various sources including Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing.

According to Hearn, Canelo will face Bivol in a rematch after colliding with Ryder if there are no obstacles such as injury or other impediment, which leaves little room for the two 175-pound champions to seek unification in 2023.

Article submitted by Jorge Juan Álvarez in Spanish.

Please note any adjustments made were for clarification purposes and any errors in translation were unintentional.

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