Boxing

[H2O Man]

Title fight: Artur Beterbiev vs. Anthony Yarde, 12 rounds, for Beterbiev's WBC, WBO and IBF light heavyweight titles.

This fight is being held in London, and can be viewed today (Jan 28) on ESPN+ at 3pm/est. The rest of the card includes some good fights, but the boxing community is focused on the main event. On paper, it is the type of fight that appeals to a wider group of sports fans, as it pits two very good boxer-punchers that will almost certainly end in a brutal knockout.

Now, let's take a look at both of these guys. If we again went by "on paper," both win almost all of their fights by knockout. Yet they are not just sluggers with limited boxing skills. Both men know how to set an opponent up to land hard punches. Both are patient, and wear the opponent down over a number of rounds. Both tend to set the pace in their fights.

Yarde, 31, is at 6 foot a half-inch taller. His record is 23 - 1, with 22 knockouts. He was stopped by light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev in 2019 in the tenth roundm and lost a split-decision to undefeated Lyndon Arthur. Two fights later, Yarde avenged that disputed loss by knocking Arthur out, thus winning two minor titles.

I think that Yarde will attempt to out-box Beterbiev, but it is his nature to try to inflict damage with combinations thrown with bursts of speed. It's interesting that Beterbiev fights a lot like Sergey Kovalev did. We see that Yarde learned from his first Arthur fight, raising the obvious question of what he learned in the Kovalev fight?

It's also fair to ask that, no matter how smart any current light heavyweight is, could it change the outcome of a fight against Beterbiev? The 38-year old champion's record is 18 - 0, with 18 knockouts. More, at 38, he appears to be in his prime. A growing number of members of the boxing community are comparing him to the great Rocky Marciano. The two are/were about the same size, and wear opponents down with their great physical strength. Both are the definition of relentless in the ring. Both overcame cuts that would normally end a fight, to score knockouts.

In my opinion, Beterbiev has better defensive skills than Rocky had. Both have shown they know how to set opponents with a variety of styles up for their most powerful punches. But the defensive skills that Beterbiev has shown result in his taking less punishment than Rocky. A huge factor will be how each responds to taking a punch that hurts them this afternoon.

Now, this fight could end in the first round. Or it could be similar to Foreman vs Lyle, one of the sport's greatest toe-to-toe fights. While it is possible that it goes to the decision, I don't think that is likely. If I were to speculate, I'd favor Beterbiev between rounds six to eight