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 conflict. (Photograph by Mark Robison/High Rank Inc by way of Getty Photos)

There are few, if any, boxers within the gentle heavyweight division who may 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 lots of the critics of this combat with an distinctive efficiency. He reduce Beterbiev on the left eye, landed a collection of onerous left palms, 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 combat’s first knockdown with a mixture that started with a blistering proper. Yarde acquired up on shaky legs and took two or three extra punches earlier than his nook properly requested referee Steve Grey to cease it.

That’s what will occur while 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, nevertheless it’s going to take a distinct type of technique to tug 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 probability is, like Beterbiev, an undefeated Russian who holds a lightweight heavyweight world title belt. Dmitry Bivol, who defeated Canelo Alvarez final yr en path to nearly sweeping the Fighter of the Year honors, has the model that would beat Beterbiev.

That the combat, if it happens, could be for the undisputed gentle heavyweight title makes it that significantly 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 combat at OVO Area Wembley on January 28, 2023 in London, England. (Photograph 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 along with his energy. However he’s nice at creating angles, controlling the gap and selecting aside a man who, like Beterbiev, is most of the time in search of the house run shot.

It’s normally 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 try this if wanted. He has each soul-stealing punching energy and a granite chin that permits him to tug that off.

Yarde felt he needed to make it a firefight in an effort to win, and he largely pulled off the technique. However there have been no subtleties defensively to his recreation, and when he was there attacking Beterbiev, he was creating openings for his Russian adversary to take advantage of.

The issue for Yarde is that Beterbiev landed almost half of his energy pictures, in response to CompuBox. He linked on 84 of 181 energy punches, a 46% join charge. When one hits as onerous as Beterbiev does, that normally makes it a wrap.

The key to beating Beterbiev shall be to take advantage of his defensive deficiencies with out permitting him to counter quite a bit.

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 combat is completely different,” he stated. “Totally different emotions, completely different preparations. I can’t say I did a nasty combat, but when I do it once more, I wish to do higher.”

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

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

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

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

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

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