In a gutsy effort, Hackney’s Anthony Yarde was knocked out by Sergey Kovalev in the 11th round of their WBO light heavyweight title fight in Russia.
Yarde put in a courageous performance and was on the verge of stopping Kovalev in the 8th, but seemed to gas out badly in the later stages until he was stopped. Yarde came into the fight extremely confident but seriously lacking championship experience.
His record of 18-0 with 17 KO’s, although showed his tremendous punching power, had no household or championship quality names on it, in a division that has recently emerged as having a number of top quality boxers challenging for honours.
So you could kind of understand the leap straight into fighting for the title against Kovalev, who is 36 and has three losses on his record.
Although two of them came against the world recognised no1 pound for pound fighter at the time, Andre Ward. This was more or less the issue for Anthony Yarde.
At 36, Kovalev had built a wealth of experience in victory and defeat.
He was at one stage the unified WBA, WBO and IBF light heavyweight title holder and was the most feared man in the division before losing twice to Ward.
But i’m sure, even in defeat, no boxer can share 20 rounds with Ward and not come out of it a better or even, a more knowledgeable fighter.
Kovalev picked himself back up and won the WBO title, has since lost it and won it back again. That’s experience you just cant buy. Maybe those defeats and Kovalev’s age gave Yarde confidence to take this fight.
However, Kovalev’s vast experience showed. Although Yarde demonstrated real guts to step into the lions den in Kovalev’s home country of Russia, having only fought outside of England once in his 18 previous fights.
But Yarde looked, talked and appeared to be extremely confident throughout the build up and leading right up until the opening bell.
With that said, Yarde’s confidence could have been caused by his lack of big fight experience. This gulf in experience told from the opening bell.
The Russian was on the front foot from the start and used his hammer of a jab to good effect. Yarde tried to be patient and walk Kovalev down, but the Russian was moving and scoring points.
It seemed Yarde was depending on his power and was waiting for that one opportunity, where as Kovalev was busy, jabbing and catching Yarde with straight shots to keep him off rhythm, scoring points and winning the rounds.
To Yarde’s credit, he hardly took a back step, was always in the fight and had his moments. His confidence never wavered, although Kovalev was clearly winning the fight.
However, it all changed in the eighth round. Yarde had been getting closer and gradually improving his work rate. Midway through the eighth, Yarde caught Kovalev with a lovely left hook, which visually rocked the Russian.
Yarde obviously noticed this and powered forward with a barrage of punches, catching Kovalev who did well to stay up.
Though Yarde was tired himself, you felt one clean shot would have ended it but Kovalev’s experience showed and he survived the round.
In the corner, Kovalev’s trainer Buddy McGirt, who only a month ago was in the corner of another Russian, 28 year old Maxim Dadashev.
He who sadly died after losing his for the first time, after the fight Dadashev collapsed, fell into a coma and passed away. Buddy told Kovalev that if he took another round like that he would stop the fight.
At the time of watching that, Dadashev instantly came into my mind. His words may have had a lot to do with Dadeshev’s death, or it could just have been a last ditch effort to stir his boxer.
Whatever the cause it worked as Kovalev came out in the ninth like a man possessed and won the round convincingly by moving, jabbing and catching Yarde with several combinations.
It seemed Yarde had put everything into the eighth and had nothing left. He came out in the tenth and seemed to be seriously gassed.
I considered him to be carrying too much muscle, Yarde seemed to struggle to keep his hands up and Kovalev began to catch him with shots. You could have argued that Yarde’s corner could have pulled him out at the end of the 10th.
However, Yarde was sent out for the 11th but you could clearly see he was struggling.
It seems only a matter of time and Kovalev ended it with what seemed to be a half jab half left hook that caught Yarde flush, sending him crashed to the canvas.
Yarde seemed slightly hurt but more exhausted. The ref stopped the fight and Kovalev picked up an impressive knockout victory to retain his WBO light heavyweight title in an epic battle.
After the fight, Kovalev gave credit to Yarde, knowing he had been in a fight. Stated his experience was the telling factor and explained after everything he had been through, he knows how to navigate fights like this.
Kovalev paced himself very well and Yarde had to admit that his lack of experience was the key factor, despite his extremely courageous performance.
It’s been said that Yarde turned down huge step aside money from Canelo, possible more than his actual purse for this fight and opted to take the Kovalev fight.
I thought that was good on him, as he was obviously confident and didn’t allow money to sway him from his ambitions.
However, as much as his lack of experience was a huge factor in losing, the fact that he does no sparring for me, could also be a huge factor and a problem. I understand every fighter trains and prepares differently, and his methods got him to where he is now.
But as you step up in quality, you need to step up your level of preparation and training. Especially for a man that has such a high knockout rate, who does not tend to go 12 rounds.
So sparring would be extremely valuable, not just for the fitness and endurance but for the experience of having the rounds in the bag.
I know I am nobody to question or criticise his training methods, but they way he badly gassed out in the later stages.
Credited it had something to do with him going all out for the knockout in the eighth, was alarming and he cannot wait for the fights alone to learn how to pace himself. He really needs to consider the no sparring thing.
Nevertheless, as stated, it was a gutsy and courageous performance. Yarde pushed Kovalev all the way and almost stopped him.
Although he has a lot to work on, he has a lot to be proud of and this will provide valuable experience for the future, as I have no doubt he will come again.
So the light heavyweight division better be on notice as the lions are still in the camp.
