Anthony Yarde 23-2 (22) is relishing his role as underdog ahead of his challenge to WBC, WBO and IBF light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev 18-0 (18) at Wembley Arena in London, England on January 28.
The bout pits two of the 175-pound division’s biggest punchers against each other and is unlikely to go the distance. But Yarde says he has no fear of the task in front of him.
“I’m relaxed, I’m good and it is the biggest fight of my career,” the 31-year-old Brit said. “I am definitely happy that I have finally got to this stage and, in my mind, I have got to bring to reality where I am going afterwards as well.
“You know what, I watched boxing even before I started and I like to watch the big moments and how they all come around. My best performances have always been when I have been the underdog.
“I like being in that position at this stage of my career and I just feel like January 28 is going to be a very special night for me.”
Yarde bounced back from his split decision loss to Lyndon Arthur 21-1 (15) two years ago with three straight early knockout victories, including a fourth round stoppage of Arthur in their rematch in December 2021.
His string of wins earned him mandatory challenger status with the WBO and he will have home ground advantage when he meets Canadian-based Russian Beterbiev, 37.
This will be the fourth different country Beterbiev has boxed in in his past four fights.
“I’m not focused on the city,” Beterbiev told BT Sport. “I’m not like this person [who is obsessed with location]: London, New York, Moscow, I’m not focused on city. I’m more focused on opponent.”
The destructive Beterbiev first won the vacant IBF crown five years ago and defended the title twice before adding the WBC belt to his collection with a 10th round knockout of Oleksandr ‘The Nail’ Gvozdyk 17-1 (14) in October 2019. Three bouts later he relieved Joe Smith Jr 28-4 (22) of his WBO strap with a second round knockout in June last year.
The average length of Beterbiev’s fight is 4.5 rounds, but he insists he never goes looking for the knockout.
“I never think of knockout,” he said. “I only think about [being a] good boxer, to show good boxing.
“Box is my work. If some people like how I do my work, then I’m double-timed happy.”
If Beterbiev gets past Yarde as expected, a mouth-watering bout against WBC champion Dmitry Bivol 21-0 (11) could take place.
The 31-year-old Russian who boxes out of Indio, California scored a breakout win over undisputed super middleweight champion Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez 58-2-2 (39) by unanimous decision in May last year. He backed this up with a wide points decision over Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez 44-1 (30) in November.
While there has been talk of a rematch with Alvarez, potentially at 168-pounds, Bivol has made it clear his preference is to face Beterbiev to unify all four major world title belts at light heavyweight.
“I want to be undisputed. That’s my goal,” Bivol said. “My priority is to fight for another belts.”
