Anthony Yarde will be in the ring for Betterbiev vs. Smith Jr on Saturday, will fight the winner
Via Charles Brun: WBO Mandatory Anthony Yarde will be in the ring this Saturday night to watch a light heavyweight unification match between IBF/WBA champion Artur Beterbiev and World Boxing Organization champion Joe Smith Jr at Madison Square Garden in New York.
(Image source: Sumio Yamada)
Top Rated promoter Bob Arum told the media on Thursday that winner Beterbiev vs. Smith Jr. WILL fight Yarde (22-2, 21 KOs) next.
That’s the fight Arum wants, and since he’s promoting both champions, Beterbiev and Smith, that’s the direction he’s going by pairing the winner with Yarde.
“I hope to get a winner, but until the winner is facing me, I can’t concentrate,” Anthony Yarde told Frank Warren’s Queensbury Promotionabout him fighting winner Beterbiev against Smith Jr.
“I think I’ll be first, even though I’m not in the ring tomorrow,” Yarde said when asked about predictions for the Beterbiev-Smith match. “All I care about is that I get the winner and I think I’m on top.”
Surprisingly, Arum liked winners Beterbiev and Smith Jr. against Yarde rather than WBA champion Dmitry Bivol for the undisputed championship and it’s clear why the wise promoter chose to go that route.
The Yarde is an easy mark and certainly a win for Beterbiev or Smith, but you can’t say the same about the Eddie Hearn-promoted Bivol.
It’s a fight that Betterbiev or Smith are likely to lose. We saw Bivol’s Joe Smith Jr in 2019 in a one-sided fight.
The only moment Smith has in the fight is when he hits Bivol AFTER the bell in tenths, stunned him. Bivol recovered and paid back on round 12 when he knocked with a barrage of shots at Smith, whose home town of New York was on the brink of being stopped by the time the game was over.
The way Bivol attacked a helpless Smith Jr in the 12th round was eerily similar to the way he nailed Canelo Alvarez with a storm of fifth-round hits in their recent fight on May 7. The only difference is that Smith is in serious trouble.
“I’ll watch them both fight,” Yarde said. “What do you think my answer would be?” Yarde said when asked if he would prefer someone to fight between Smith and Beterbiev. “No, it doesn’t matter.
“That sounds like a dream come true,” Yarde said of the possibility of him taking on Joshua Buatsi for the undisputed light heavyweight title next year if he beats the winner. Beterbiev vs. Smith Jr. and Buatsi beat 175-lb WBA champion Dmitry Bivol.
“I am not a talker, I am a believer. Joshua Buatsi and I said this from the start, it’s going to happen,” Yarde said like a dreamer. “We both said the same things, it will happen. There’s a lot of respect there. I think it will,” said dreamer Yarde.
