Artur Beterbiev ends brawl vs. Anthony Yarde with Nineteenth-straight KO, calls out Dmitry Bivol

LONDON, ENGLAND - JANUARY 28: Artur Beterbiev (L) and Anthony Yarde (R) exchange punches during their WBC, IBF and WBO light heavyweight Championship fight at OVO Arena Wembley on January 28, 2023 in London, England. (Photo by Mark Robison/Top Rank Inc via Getty Images)

Artur Beterbiev and Anthony Yarde went to-to-toe Saturday in a struggle. (Picture by Mark Robison/High Rank Inc by way of Getty Photos)

There are few, if any, boxers within the gentle heavyweight division who might survive a protracted firefight with unified champion Artur Beterbiev. Anthony Yarde gave it an admirable shot on Saturday at Wembley Area in London, however nonetheless couldn’t make it out of the eighth spherical.

Yarde punched again at most of the critics of this struggle with an distinctive efficiency. He lower Beterbiev on the left eye, landed a collection of laborious left arms, was main on two of the three scorecards and was nonetheless stopped at 2:01 of the eighth spherical.

Beterbiev dropped Yarde within the eighth for the struggle’s first knockdown with a mix that started with a blistering proper. Yarde obtained up on shaky legs and took two or three extra punches earlier than his nook correctly requested referee Steve Grey to cease it.

That’s what will occur once you go toe-to-toe with Beterbiev. He improved to 19-0 with the win by scoring his Nineteenth knockout. He’s hittable, and thus beatable, however it’s going to take a special type of technique to drag that off than Yarde employed.

“That was one of many nice gentle heavyweight battles I’ve had the privilege of watching,” High Rank chairman Bob Arum stated. “Artur Beterbiev is a real grasp of his craft. I favor him over anybody within the division.”

The excellent news for boxing followers is that the man who has the very best likelihood is, like Beterbiev, an undefeated Russian who holds a lightweight heavyweight world title belt. Dmitry Bivol, who defeated Canelo Alvarez final 12 months en path to nearly sweeping the Fighter of the Year honors, has the type that might beat Beterbiev.

That the struggle, if it happens, can be for the undisputed gentle heavyweight title makes it that a lot better.

LONDON, ENGLAND - JANUARY 28: Artur Beterbiev celebrates after defeating Anthony Yarde during their WBC, IBF and WBO light heavyweight Championship fight at OVO Arena Wembley on January 28, 2023 in London, England. (Photo by Mark Robison/Top Rank Inc via Getty Images)

Artur Beterbiev celebrates after defeating Anthony Yarde throughout their WBC, IBF and WBO gentle heavyweight Championship struggle at OVO Area Wembley on January 28, 2023 in London, England. (Picture by Mark Robison/High Rank Inc by way of Getty Photos)

Bivol is 21-0 with 11 knockouts. He’s a pointy puncher however he’s not going to scare many together with his energy. However he’s nice at creating angles, controlling the gap and selecting aside a man who, like Beterbiev, is as a rule searching for the house run shot.

It’s often not a good suggestion for a boxer, regardless of how good, to be prepared to take two to land one, however one of many issues that makes Beterbiev nice is that he can do this if wanted. He has each soul-stealing punching energy and a granite chin that permits him to drag that off.

Yarde felt he needed to make it a firefight as a way to win, and he largely pulled off the technique. However there have been no subtleties defensively to his sport, and when he was there attacking Beterbiev, he was creating openings for his Russian adversary to use.

The issue for Yarde is that Beterbiev landed practically half of his energy photographs, based on CompuBox. He related on 84 of 181 energy punches, a 46% join charge. When one hits as laborious as Beterbiev does, that often makes it a wrap.

The key to beating Beterbiev might be to use his defensive deficiencies with out permitting him to counter lots.

That’s one thing that Bivol has that Yarde and former opponents like Joe Smith didn’t. Maybe not since Beterbiev defeat Oleksandr Gvozdyk in 2019 has he confronted an opponent with that mixture of abilities.

He was not shocked that Yarde tried to assault him, due to an elite nook headlined by Marc Ramsey, John Scully and Russ Anber.

“Each struggle is completely different,” he stated. “Totally different emotions, completely different preparations. I can’t say I did a foul struggle, but when I do it once more, I need to do higher.”

He’ll should be higher as a way to defeat Bivol, frankly. Now, Bivol is in an enviable place as a result of he has the potential for a rematch with Alvarez, the big-money man within the sport, or the bout for the undisputed title with Beterbiev.

It’s laborious to think about a struggle between a pair of Russians who converse little English doing a lot enterprise pay-per-view sensible within the U.S., so that may imply to ensure that it to occur, it goes to ESPN, the place Beterbiev fights beneath the High Rank banner.

That would assist a possible Alvarez-Bivol match in an odd kind of manner, given the publicity of an undisputed title struggle with Beterbiev on ESPN would make Bivol an even bigger title heading right into a theoretical rematch with Alvarez.

That’s a priority for down the road, although. On Saturday, Beterbiev (and Yarde, to be truthful) proved that the sunshine heavyweight division is alive and effectively.

Better of all, its greatest could also be but to return. Beterbiev is the furthest factor from a trash talker there’s, however he stated the three phrases all ought to need to hear coming off such a fantastic struggle: “I would like Bivol.”

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