Two-time light heavyweight world title challenger Anthony Yarde 23-3 (22) in torn on who he wants to win the fight between undefeated British duo Joshua Buatsi 17-0 (13) and Dan Azeez 20-0 (13).
The evenly match fight at the O2 Arena in London, England on October 21 will pit The Ring magazine’s number six contender in Buatsi against their number seven contender in Azeez.
In addition, both boxers are ranked in the top five by all four major sanctioning bodies.
Fellow Brit Yarde is little bit more progressed with his career than Buatsi or Azeez having been to the top of the mountain twice and falling marginally short.
Five years ago a still-raw Yarde travelled to Russia to take on then-WBO 175-pound champion Sergey Kovalev 35-4-1 (29). He put up a spirited effort but faded late, eventually being stopped in the penultimate round.
He offered up an even better performance against WBC, WBO and IBF light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev 19-0 (19) in London in January. Leading on two of the official scorecards and trailing by just one point on the third, Yarde was eventually stopped by the fearsome puncher in eight.
In Buatsi and Azeez, Yarde sees the future of the division.
But picking a winner is difficult for the 32-year-old, who has a vested interest in the result.
“I thought me and Buatsi would have had the fight. I felt like it was a good time. I don’t really care. I feel like eventually it’s going to happen,” Yarde told Sky Sports’ Toe2Toe Podcast.
“When the time is right, we’ll make the fight as big as it needs to be. If we need to trash talk, we’ll trash talk. If we need to get into each other’s faces, if it needs to be tactical, it will be tactical. Me and him have spoken personally and it seems like we both want to fight. I definitely want the fight and I’m not shying away from anybody. I’ve shown time and time again what I’m about.”
For Yarde, who is ranked number five by The Ring and is a top 10 contender with the four sanctioning bodies, a Buatsi win makes more business sense. But he rates Azeez as a person too and wants to see him succeed in this brutal sport.
“I know Dan Azeez very well. It would be good to see Azeez come out on top because he’s got a good heart and he’s a good person. I’ve known him for a long time,” Yarde said.
“But again, will it dampen the fight between me and Buatsi? Possibly. So, for that reason, I would want Buatsi to get the win. It’s business. I don’t know [who will win] because, Buatsi, he’s very up and down. Sometimes he looks very good, sometimes he looks very mediocre. Azeez has got better fighting decent opponents. He’s been stopping opponents.”
