Former WBO title challenger Anthony Yarde is guaranteeing entertainment when he challenges Commonwealth 175lbs champ Lyndon Arthur at Church House in Westminster, London, on Saturday night.
There is rarely a dull moment when Yarde (20-1, 19 KOs) is in the ring and the Ilford man feels his heavy hands will prevail against his unbeaten Mancunian rival in what appears a classic puncher vs boxer battle on paper.
“I am always looking to have a spectacular fight, always, always. I don’t like boring, I don’t like looking back and seeing boring,” said the stiff-punching Yarde.
“The fight is going to be entertaining, one hundred percent. I am looking to land shots I have been working on, to apply pressure, I am looking to do everything that is necessary to get the knockout victory.”
Yarde hurt and almost stopped Sergey Kovalev in a WBO title tilt in Chelyabinsk, Russia, in August 2019 before falling in the 11th round and feels he was always destined to star at elite level. It is just a question of experience after a limited amateur career.
“If you listened to me before the Kovalev fight, I wasn’t talking to sell the fight. I am just very confident in myself and even before I started boxing I knew I had something,” said Yarde. “I knew I could fight, I knew I could throw punches, I knew I had something a lot of people ain’t got.
“That is not blowing smoke up myself, it is just having confidence in myself. I said I was going out there to knock Kovalev out and people were like ‘This guy is crazy’. I didn’t say it was going to be easy, I said I was going to do it and I almost pulled it off. In my opinion, it was the only way I was going to win that fight in Russia because I wasn’t going to win by decision, even if I did win it technically.
“So I openly said I was going to win by knockout and I nearly did but there was just little things, little differences. Sometimes it is just one punch in boxing and it is about landing the right punch at the right time – and I almost did.
“It shows me the level I am at. If I can go out there and just have that one option and be that close to pulling it off, it shows how mentally strong I can be in things I can achieve.”
