Anthony Yarde’s career has been feast or famine.
For every Sergey Kovalev there is a Marko Nikolic, for every Artur Beterbiev and Stefani Koykov, and for every Lyndon Arthur and Daruisz Sek.
Yarde’s team strictly followed the plan to resuscitate him on that fateful night. And even then it is difficult to criticize their methods. Because of the lucrative and prestigious career that the light heavyweight division once enjoyed. But there was always the feeling that he could do so much, so much more.
At Copper Box Arena on Saturday night, Ralfs Vilcans unexpectedly gave Yarde, 26-3 (24 KO), the kind of fight he would have won from years past.
When the Vilcans landed the first right hand Yarde threw in the opening seconds, It seems that the Latvians may go the same way as the other unknown fighters. that comes with a flashy record But it doesn’t have the ability to cause problems for Yarde.
Instead of accepting his fate Wilkins was eroding, no fireworks, but his heart, fitness and willingness to grab his feet and punch with short combinations was causing Yarde more and more problems. When each round passes
After 10 rounds, Yarde earned the unanimous decision victory. But it absorbed far more shock than he expected.
Are Vilcans better than other second-tier opponents that Yarde has leveled above over the years? The London native allows for almost constant chatter about his promotional conflicts and whether a future fight with Joshua Buatsi distracts him from the job at hand? Is the incredible athletic talent the 33-year-old has relied on starting to decline?
As always with Yarde, we won’t get any answers. Until he fought a high level opponent.
After the match, an uncharacteristically uncomfortable Yarde admitted to Sky Sports that he had been given a much harder night’s work than he expected.
“100 percent. In my career. I have very little experience with golf. Usually when I hit someone. The fight was over,” he said. “I think the worst thing that happened was I dropped him in the first round. I was satisfied with, ‘Okay, I can beat this guy any time.’
“It’s the whole experience. That’s why in the last round I said ‘OK’, just put it in the box. I probably won’t knock him out. But let me fight and get a different type of experience.’”
At 33 years old, Yarde won’t get as much experience last night as he would five years ago.
At this stage of his career, the two-time world title challenger is what he is and is unlikely to add any new wrinkles to his game, but Yarde is a reactive and explosive fighter. And if he can enter another training camp directly, we will have a chance to see a sharper and better performance next time.
The problem is that Yarde wants the next big fight. But he found his options dwindling. And while the battle between him and Buatsi looked very close just a few months ago, Yarde now finds himself stunned by his London rival.
Buatsi is the WBO interim champion and is next in line for a shot at the belt. Artur Beterbiev successfully retained it last weekend when he defeated Dmitry Bivol to become the undisputed light heavyweight champion.
Buatsi may wait to see if Beterbiev and Bivol agree to a rematch before signing a high-risk fight with Larde. which if the picture does not change quickly will find himself on the sidelines again
“I will fight anyone. Literally I would fight anyone,” Yarde said. “Style makes fights. And I have fought on the mountaintop. Sometimes the person in front of you can bring out the best version of you. This was a last minute opponent. So my mind might be quite satisfied.”
“I will have to come back,” he said when asked if he would take Buatsi next. “There are a lot of names. Josh Buatsi. Dan Aziz. Craig Richards. There are a lot of names in this English scene. I had already fought twice at world level Beterbiev before Bivol. I gave him my hardest fight. There was a fight there, except for Joe.sh Buatsi is one of the fights I personally want, there’s a name on it.”
John Evans has contributed to a number of high-profile publications and websites for over a decade. You can follow John at @John_Evans79
