Yarde in fiery mood

ANTHONY YARDE has vowed to “fight fire with fire” in his battle of the bangers against world light-heavyweight king Artur Beterbiev.

The Londoner will challenge Beterbiev for his WBC, IBF and WBO titles at OVO Arena Wembley on January 28 and the Chechen-born Canadian is the only world champion with a 100 per cent KO rate.

Yarde (inset) can also dig – 22 of his 23 wins have been stoppages – and he is predicting a war.

“January 28 will be my night,” said Yarde, who stopped Stefani Koykov in three rounds in a warm-up bout in Telford on Saturday. “I won’t make any big predictions but I will leave nothing to chance. I’m at my best when I fight fire with fire.”

Yarde’s promoter Frank Warren said: “This will undoubtedly be the biggest challenge of Anthony’s career and we’ve made sure he will get the best conditions possible by securing him home advantage. “We know a great champion like Beterbiev has no fears of travelling.

“We’re hoping the time is right for Anthony to fulfil his huge potential and pull off what would be one of the biggest wins by a British fighter.”