Somewhere near the top of every British fight fans’ wishlist for 2018 is a clash between light-heavyweights Frank Buglioni and Anthony Yarde.
Frank Warren tried to make the fight last year, offering Buglioni what would have been a career-best purse, and the North Londoner’s decision to turn the fight down puzzled Yarde’s manager and trainer, Tunde Ajayi.
Buglioni has explained he wants to win the Lonsdale belt outright and that means fighting whoever the British Board of Control tell him to fight.
They have told him to fight Callum Johnson and then Hosea Burton in a rematch.
Ajayi believes Buglioni should be aiming higher.
“If he isn’t fighting for money and he doesn’t want to get in the world rankings, what is Buglioni fighting for ?” he said.
“Every time we ask for the fight, we get an excuse.
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“I’m very, very confident we win that fight.
“The British public wants to see the fight and we are happy to fight him on February 10.”
That is the date of Yarde’s next fight, at the Copper Box Arena, and Buglioni is the perfect opponent for his 15th fight.
The North Londoner has proved he has the chin and 12-round toughness that, as yet, Yarde hasn’t proved he possesses.
European-level veteran Nikola Sjekloca was expected to give Yarde rounds at the Copper Box in December.
He had never been stopped in a 37-fight career and while most of those fights had been at super-middleweight, Sjekloca had drawn with Robert Stieglitz for the European 12st 7lbs strap in his previous fight.
Yarde rose to the challenge superbly to blast him out in four rounds, a performance that Ajayi says “proves the level Anthony is at.”
That win has put Yarde up to No 3 in the latest WBO rankings – Sergey Kovalev is the champion – but Ajayi says that for the time being, he’s happy to keep Yarde at domestic level.
“We are ahead of schedule and we don’t want to rush the next step,” he said. “We are happy to hover around the domestic scene for the next six or seven months, just stay where we are.
“We don’t have to be kamikaze about it.
“We are the youngest and least experienced in the world rankings, so why rush?”
Ajayi says possible domestic opponents for next month include rangy Midlander Ricky Summers, Joe Sherriff, and Kirk Garvey.
Brave in defeat to Buglioni in a British-title challenge last summer, Summers is believed to have a fight scheduled in Birmingham on February 23, while Sherriff is looking for a way back after a narrow loss to Jake Ball and Garvey is in the frame after agreeing with a social media post that was posted saying he would outbox Yarde.
Ajayi picked up on that – and says he’s happy to take the fight.
Garvey had a lengthy amateur career – the highlight was winning the ABA light-heavyweight title in 2012 – and is 10-1 in the pros, while Yarde only had 12 amateur bouts before turning over in May, 2015.
Yarde is a superb athlete – he was a promising footballer and runner – with the fighting instincts of someone who’s had a few skirmishes on East London’s streets, but his rapid rise is also vindication for Ajayi’s training methods.
His System Nine training app will be released this year – and Yarde is a good advert for it!
“I said in an interview two years ago that my system would produce a British, Commonwealth, European and world champion and I believe it will be Anthony,” said Ajayi.
“I spent nine years developing this system and I believe he will prove it works.
“From the start, I was different.
“For years people have criticised me and now they all want to know what the secret is!
“I might be a mad scientist – but the proof is there in my results.
“People used to laugh at me and now they are taking notice, because of what Anthony is doing.”
What Yarde does is knock people out. Only one of his 14 opponents has heard the final bell.
Commentator John Rawling has watched enough boxing over the years to know what he’s talking about and he says Yarde excites him more than any other British fighter since Nigel Benn emerged in the 1980s.
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“Anthony is a beast with a lot of natural talent,” said Ajayi, “and he is a real student of boxing.”
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