Anthony Yarde may not have captured a world title, but on each of his three attempts he has dived straight in at the deep end.
The latest came against ‘The Mexican Monster’ David Benavidez this past weekend, whose sustained assault was enough to prompt referee Hector Afu to step in during the seventh round and spare Yarde further punishment.
Across six years the Londoner has challenged Sergey Kovalev, Artur Beterbiev and now Benavidez for world honours at light-heavyweight. His longest effort came against Kovalev in 2019, when he lasted 11 rounds, while his shortest ended on Saturday night in Riyadh.
All three champions are renowned for their ferocious punch power, but who is the best of the trio? Yarde, 27-4 (24 KOs), offered his view when speaking to Boxing King Media.
“Benavidez is good. He’s filled into the weight very well. I rate him highly. I would say if I had to rate them, I’ll put him first or second –– him or Beterbiev. I know it sounds crazy, but in this fight against Benavidez, other than when he hit me when I was down, he never hurt me.”
Yarde then reflected on his battle with Beterbiev –– arguably his finest performance –– where he pushed the then-unified champion harder than anyone before being stopped in the eighth round.
“Beterbiev hurt me. I think it was the second round or something like that. Hit me with a left hook at the end of the round and that buzzed me. I was like, whoa.
“With Benavidez, it’s like they were overwhelming punches, but none hurt me. Even the body shots weren’t hurting. Other than when I got hit in my nose –– the fact my nose was bleeding –– that gave me a shocked response, like I didn’t want to get hit in my nose again. But other than that, he’s just a good pressure fighter. He knows what he’s doing. Very smart.”
While Yarde’s next move after the loss to Benavidez is currently unknown, ‘The Mexican Monster’ is set to step up to cruiserweight for a clash against unified world champion Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez.