Yarde hailed for bravery in defeat by Beterbiev
THE YARDE bird knew full well he was flying into the eye of the storm. Brave or foolhardy. Optimist or delusional. Premature in his soaring ambition or sensing his moment? No matter. Anthony Yarde was hell-bent on going for glory.
On Saturday night at Wembley Arena we could only watch and warm to the bravery and brilliance he brought to challenging Artur Beterbiev, the wrecking ball of the ring, for his trio of world light-heavyweight titles — IBF, WBC and WBO. Come the inevitable end we could still stand to salute Yarde the warrior and marvel at the phenomenal punching power, resilient jaw and indomitable will of his destroyer. Beterbiev devoured Yarde in the eighth round, when two skull-shattering rights dropped him and convinced the cornermen and the referees, rightly, to stop the fight as Yarde staggered to his feet. So valiant was the British fighter he was ahead on two of the three judges’ cards — level on mine — at the moment of defeat. Those scores lend credence to the hope that Yarde, 31, may yet have time to claim one of those belts himself.
For a third chance of making that happen, he will have to maintain this physical condition and his hunger for a while yet. Beterbiev will return to his shaming of Dmitry Bivol into fulfilling his long-stated promise of them fighting for the undisputed world championship. Rival promoters consenting, Yarde might build on a home fanbase fired up by his latest endeavours by meeting Joshua Buatsi in a Battle of Britain. Beterbiev stepped back from his 19th consecutive knockout in as many professional fights to encourage Yarde.
‘He punches hard and I hope he comes back strongly from this.’ But there was a disguised warning when he added: ‘This was not my best fight. That is the fault of my coaches.’