Unified light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev traveled to hostile territory on Saturday to face London's own Anthony Yarde. While Beterbiev entered as the favorite, he had to go through eight rounds of war before finally landing two right hands that put Yarde on the canvas and led Yarde's corner to stop the fight.
Yarde (23-3, 22 KO) found success in the early rounds after opening the fight using his legs, moving around the ring and forcing Beterbiev (19-0, 19 KO) to chase. Yarde was also able to land some solid punches while Beterbiev was trying to track him down. That movement-based style faded somewhat late in the second round when Beterbiev landed his first hard punch of the fight.
Yarde tried to respond to Beterbiev's success by engaging in a brief firefight and never really got back to moving around the ring as Beterbiev found more and more success with his shots, both to the body and the head.
By the fourth round, Yarde looked as though fatigue was beginning to set in, a troubling sign for the Englishman, who lost his first world championship opportunity when he ran out of gas against Sergey Kovalev in 2019. Despite the fatigue, Yarde continued trying to find success and landed some big bombs in Round 5, only for Beterbiev to roar back with a huge combination in the final seconds of the frame.
Both men were bleeding from cuts at the end of Round 6 as the drama continued to build with momentum ebbing and flowing as they traded big shots, including in some wild seventh round exchanges along the ropes.
A right hand by Beterbiev in Round 8 sent Yarde stumbling before a follow-up right sent him crashing to the canvas. Yarde did not look good as he got to his feet to beat the count. As Beterbiev came in for the finish, Yarde's corner stood on the canvas and called for the fight to be stopped, awarding Beterbiev a hard-fought TKO victory in a fantastic bout.
AND STILL THE KO KING 👑💯@ABeterbiev x #BeterbievYarde pic.twitter.com/PXxj7PG54k
— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) January 28, 2023
With the win, Beterbiev not only retained his WBC, WBO and IBF titles, but he also took care of business in moving closer to a bout with WBA champion Dmitry Bivol to crown an undisputed champion at 175 pounds. Beterbiev addressed the fight as one he wanted in his post-fight interview.
"I'm looking for the next job," Beterbiev said. "I think that job is more pleasant than another one. I want it. This, right now, is everything. In this fight, we have four belts. It's a really good fight."
As for Yarde, he has now lost twice in shots to become world champion, though he may have raised his stock by troubling Beterbiev at times and absorbing many clean shots from a man who is known as one of the best finishers in boxing.
