Unified light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev 19-0 (19) has said that he could have performed better against Anthony Yarde 23-3 (22) in his eighth-round knockout victory at Wembley Arena in London, England on Saturday night.
Beterbiev retained his WBC, WBO and IBF titles but had to walk through fire to do it. Yarde, 31, started fast and banked enough early rounds to be ahead on the two of the judges’ scorecards when his trainer Tunde Ajayi stopped the fight after he was dropped in the eighth. The official time of the stoppage was 2:01.
Englishman Yarde exploited Beterbiev’s traditional slow start, working well behind the jab and finding a regular home for his left hook. A few rounds in, the right uppercut became an effective weapon.
But the experience of Beterbiev eventually won the day. The Canadian-based Russian picked his spots against Yarde, eventually dropping him with a right hand that sent the challenger down and precipitated the knockout.
With a potential four-belt unification bout against WBA 175-pound champion Dmitry Bivol 21-0 (11) being considered, Beterbiev admitted he has to work on his defence.
“To be honest in this fight I didn’t do a good job to avoid punches, I didn’t do everything how I wanted,” the 38-year-old said.
“It was another win. There were only eight rounds and I can’t show my performance in that time – I was only just getting started I think. To be honest I was just waking up in those rounds.
“You never know how it’s going to go. You can have some strategies or scenarios but you never really know. He did a good fight though but I did a good fight too.
“He watched my last fight and said I was slow. But during the fight, I’m thinking ‘why did you say I’m slow?’ He was slow, not me!
“I can’t say he was tougher than I imagined. There were different things. When you fight for 12 rounds in a unification fight I think maybe it’s more difficult for me than it is for Yarde because he can get three belts in one shot. It’s easier as the challenger, I can say it’s more difficult to defend.
“I can’t say it was my toughest fight but he’s good and he did a good job. I felt in control though. He’s a good guy and I wish him well for the future. For me today was a win but for him it was experience.
“I think he has the ability to win a world title because he’s young and he has potential, tonight he gained a lot of experience.”
Beterbiev praised Ajayi for stepping in at the right time.
“It was a good decision,” he said. “The coach has to feel what his fighter is feeling – he knows better than his fighter when to stop it.
“I don’t want to kill someone, I just want to win.”
