By Ian S Palmer
Light Heavyweight prospect Anthony Yarde faces unbeaten Lyndon Arthur of Manchester, England in a rematch this Saturday, December 4th at the Copper Box Arena in Yarde’s hometown of London. The two fought last December with Arthur winning a 12-round split decision for the vacant WBO Inter-Continental and Arthur’s Commonwealth Titles. Yarde last fought in August when he stopped Alex Theran in the first round while Arthur stopped David Faraci in the ninth round in July. This weekend’s rematch can be seen on BT Sport in the UK.
The 30-year-old Arthur enters the ring with a perfect mark of 19-0 with 13 Kos and has boxed 83 rounds since making his pro debut in 2016 following his amateur career. Since then he captured the vacant British Commonwealth Light Heavyweight Title in October, 2019 via a 12-round unanimous decision over Emmanuel Amin. He defended it against Doc Spelman by unanimous decision before meeting Yarde last year when he also won the vacant WBO Inter-Continental Crown.
Arthur’s first 10 opponents had losing records before meeting Charles Adamu. Yarde is basically his only well-known opponent and he used his boxing skills to upset him in a close split decision. Arthur has good power and a solid chin and stands 6-feet-2-inches with an unlisted reach. His current knockout ratio stands at 68.4 per cent.
As for Yarde, he’s also 30 years old and owns a record of 21-2 with 20 Kos. At 6-feet tall he gives up two inches in height to Arthur and also has an unlisted reach. He carries quite a bit of power in his fists with a current knockout ratio of 87 per cent. He also fought a steady diet of limited opponents until facing Sergey Kovalev in 2019 for a shot at the WBO Light Heavyweight Belt. Yarde had Kovalev in serious trouble but was eventually stopped in the 11th round.
He turned pro back in 2015 and has boxed 83 rounds since then, the same as Arthur. Before that he he had a short amateur career with a mark of 11-1 with 11 Kos. Since turning pro, Yarde has captured the English Southern Area and and WBO European Light Heavyweight Titles as well as the WBO Inter-Continental Crown, which he defended five times before losing it to Arthur. He also has wins over the likes of Walter Gabriel Sequeira, Dariusz Zek, Doc Spelman Tony Averlant, Nikola Sjekloca, Norbert Nemesapati, Richard Baranyi and Ferenc Albert.
Prediction…
The first fight was as close as the scorecards indicated with Arthur pulling off an upset with a determined performance. Yarde hasn’t really done anything on the world stage since losing to Kovalev and another loss here will be a big setback. I think he’ll be better prepared this time around though and should force a trilogy with Arthur by avenging last year’s defeat.
