Promoter Eddie Hearn, who works with WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol, has branded Artur Beterbiev vs. Anthony Yarde as a complete “mismatch.”
Earlier this month at Madison Square Garden in New York City, Beterbiev demolished Joe Smith in two rounds to unify the WBO, WBC, IBF light heavyweight titles.
Sitting at ringside that night was WBO mandatory challenger Yarde.
Back in 2019, Yarde traveled to Russia to challenge then WBO champion Sergey Kovalev for the title. At one point during the fight, Yarde had Kovalev in serious trouble and appeared to be on the verge of a stoppage win. However, Kovalev was able to weather the storm and eventually stopped an exhausted Yarde in the eleventh round.
A year later, Yarde would lose a close split decision to domestic rival Lyndon Arthur. Yarde got revenge in their December rematch, when he blew away Arthur in four rounds of action.
Beterbiev’s promoter, Bob Arum of Top Rank, has already worked out the details with Yarde’s promoter Frank Warren, to match their fighters in the fall, likely as the headline bout of a big event in the UK.
Hearn would like to match Bivol, fresh from an upset win over Canelo Alvarez, against Beterbiev.
He expects Beterbiev to go right through Yarde, who himself is regarded as a dangerous puncher with 21 knockouts in his 22 wins.
“[Yarde is] a nice guy, from London, that’s a mismatch that fight, a total mismatch. Yarde has done around three rounds in 18 months or whatever and he’s a good domestic fighter and had a good fight with Kovalev in Russia. Beterbiev is a different animal,” Hearn told The DAZN Boxing Show.
