Eddie Hearn has been full of praise for unified light heavyweight world champion Artur Beterbiev ahead of his clash with Anthony Yarde this weekend, as well as issuing some stark words of warning for the British challenger.
Hearn described the Russian as an “animal’ and admitted the fight would not be a pleasant experience for Yarde
In an interview with IFL TV, Hearn said:
“Watching Beterbiev up close, it’s pretty special. He’s a f****ing animal – horrible”
“This is going to be absolutely horrendous [for Anthony Yarde]. It always is fighting Beterbiev. You’ve got to be prepared to go to some horrible places against this man.”
This Saturday at the 02 will be Yarde’s second attempt at world honours, after he came up short against Beterbiev’s countryman Sergey Kovalev back in 2019.
“King Artur” will be by far and away the toughest test of Yarde’s career to date. Holder of the WBC, IBF and WBO world titles, he is undefeated and has stopped all 18 of the men who have been unfortunate to have shared a professional ring with him thus far.
Yarde avenged his loss to Lyndon Arthur in devastating fashion just over 12 months ago, and has looked good in his two bouts since, albeit against lower level opposition.
Beterbiev, however, will represent a different test entirely and is heavily favoured to retain his belts in London this weekend. The bookmakers have the 38 year old as a 1/12 favourite, with Yarde a huge betting underdog at around 9/1.
The winner of the contest will likely be required to face former super middleweight world champion Callum Smith in the not too distant future, after the Liverpudlian was named mandatory challenger by the WBC at their annual convention in November.