British light heavyweight Anthony Yarde (23-3, 22 KOs) failed to become the world champion at the second attempt – at the weekend he gave a tough fight to the division leader, representing Canada, Russian Artur Beterbiev (19-0, 19 KOs), but still lost ahead of schedule . In 2019, he lost to WBO champion Sergey Kovalev.
Promoter Frank Warrenqueensberry promotions) suggested a cool option for the Briton – to bring together the last two “victims” of Beterbiev in a head-to-head fight, that is, to organize a duel with Yard against former WBO champion American Joe Smith Jr. (28-4, 22 KOs).
The fight Beterbiev vs Smith took place last summer, but it did not turn out to be competitive as expected – the American capitulated already in the 2nd round, after which he thought about ending his career.
Meanwhile, Beterbiev is only interested in one fight – with the owner of the WBA Super belt missing from the complete collection, compatriot Dmitry Bivol. Interestingly, Bivol’s coach didn’t like the Beterbiev vs Smith fight: “Like drunken men waving.”