Anthony Yarde has spoken about the Artur Beterbiev right hand that sent him to the canvas and his trainer’s decision to stop the fight there and then.
Despite Yarde’s valiant efforts and surprising ability to keep the pace with an undeniable elite in Beterbiev, he was floored in the eighth round and, not long after, Tunde Ajayi, his longtime trainer, pulled him out.
On that moment, the challenger knew that it was an important and worthy decision. He spoke to BT Sport in the aftermath.
“I’ve seen clips where he dips and throws the overhand right – and it just caught me. So I went down and I hear the ref say ‘2, 3…’ And I remember him saying you don’t need to get up straight away. So I waited, I went to get up – I wasn’t wobbly or nothing … but it got called off, and I was like ‘nah man.’
But, again, Tunde, my team they care about me. They love me. They’re seeing something I’m not seeing. I’ve got that lion warrior mentality. In my mind I’m saying ‘cool I’m down, when I get up I’m going for him.’ I’m going to give it my all. If he catches me again, he catches me. All this is going through my head quickly.
But, it was called off. I’m here talking to you. I’m laughing. I’m happy.”
Yarde then joked that his title attempts – one against Sergey Kovalev before this Beterbiev fight – were much harder than many in the sport experience.
“A lot of people they get one of these ‘come just beat up someone, get a belt.’ I’m fighting these flippin’ Russians that have got veins and abs…”
“We’re better off than we were before. I’ll be back man.”
An exercise in how do to a post fight interview when you’re on the losing end of a fight by Mr Yarde, whose stock has risen after he, once again, proved himself to be a mature and entertaining fighter with tons of heart.
Read Boxing Social’s full Beterbiev vs Yarde fight report with video highlights.