Anthony Yarde


Anthony Yarde is a British professional boxer. As of June 2019, he is ranked as the world's ninth best active light-heavyweight by the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board.

Professional career

Yarde began boxing at a relatively late age and only had twelve amateur fights prior to turning professional. In May 2015, Yarde made his professional debut with a KO victory over Mitch Mitchell.
On 20 May, Yarde Knocked out Chris Hobbs for the British Southern area light-heavyweight title.
On 8 July, he stopped Richard Baranyi, who was ranked top-ten in the WBO rankings, to win the WBO European light-heavyweight title.
Yarde was scheduled to face Canadian boxer Ryan Ford, a former mixed martial artist, on 16 September 2017 for the vacant WBO Inter-Continental light-heavyweight title. On August 25, 2017, it was announced that the fight was cancelled after a contract dispute.
On 24 August 2019, Yarde challenged Sergey Kovalev for the WBO light-heavyweight title at the Traktor Sport Palace in Chelyabinsk, Russia, suffering the first defeat of his career by way of an eleventh round knockout. Yarde seemed comfortable in the early rounds, staying out of range and keeping Kovalev at bay with speed and movement. After six rounds of an even, back and forth contest, Yarde began landing accurate hooks to Kovalev's body in the seventh and eighth rounds that appeared to hurt the champion. In the last minute of the eighth, Yarde landed a straight-right to the head of Kovalev which had the veteran in trouble. Yarde followed up with an accurate salvo of power punches but was unable to capitalise, allowing the visibly hurt Kovalev to stay on his feet for the remainder of the round. After his success in the seventh and eighth rounds, Yarde appeared to tire and lose momentum in the ninth, allowing Kovalev to take control of the fight with combination punches and stiff jabs that began to frequently land on Yarde. The tenth round saw much of the same. In the final 20 seconds of the round, after being backed up against the ropes by Kovalev and being on the receiving end of a flurry of punches with no reply, Yarde was seemingly saved by the bell, which appeared to ring 8 seconds before the end of the round. In round eleven, sensing Yarde's fatigue, Kovalev upped the pressure and increased his punch output, eventually dropping Yarde with a spearing left-jab to win the fight by knockout. At the time of the stoppage, all three judges had Kovalev ahead with the scorecards reading 98-92, 97-94 and 96-93. a post-fight interview with Steve Bunce for BT Sport, Kovalev praised Yarde's defence and boxing IQ, insisting Yarde will "100%" be a world champion in the future.

Professional boxing record

No.ResultRecordOpponentTypeRound, timeDateLocationNotes
21 Lyndon Arthur– 11 July 2020 The O2 Arena, London, EnglandFor Commonwealth light-heavyweight title
20Win19–1 Diego Jair RamirezTKO2, 2:558 Feb 2020 Discoteca Memphis, Madrid, Spain
19Loss18–1 Sergey KovalevTKO11, 2:0424 Aug 2019 Traktor Sport Palace, Chelyabinsk, RussiaFor WBO light heavyweight title
18Win18–0 Travis ReevesTKO5, 0:488 Mar 2019 Royal Albert Hall, London, EnglandRetained WBO Inter-Continental light-heavyweight title
17Win17–0 Walter Gabriel SequeiraTKO4, 2:1420 Oct 2018 Brentwood Centre, Brentwood, EnglandRetained WBO Inter-Continental light-heavyweight title
16Win16–0 Dariusz SękTKO7, 2:1723 Jun 2018 The O2 Arena, London, EnglandRetained WBO European and WBO Inter-Continental light-heavyweight titles
15Win15–0 Tony AverlantRTD7, 3:0024 Feb 2018 York Hall, London, EnglandRetained WBO European and WBO Inter-Continental light-heavyweight titles
14Win14–0 Nikola SjekloćaTKO4, 1:529 Dec 2017 Copper Box Arena, London, EnglandRetained WBO European and WBO Inter-Continental light-heavyweight titles
13Win13–0 Norbert Nemesapati3, 3:0016 Sep 2017 Copper Box Arena, London, EnglandRetained WBO European light-heavyweight title;
Won vacant WBO Inter-Continental light-heavyweight title
12Win12–0 Richard BaranyiTKO1, 2:218 Jul 2017 Copper Box Arena, London, EnglandWon WBO European light-heavyweight title
11Win11–0 Chris HobbsTKO4, 2:5120 May 2017 Copper Box Arena, London, EnglandWon Southern Area light-heavyweight title
10Win10–0 Darren SnowKO1, 2:1722 Apr 2017 Leicester Arena, Leicester, England
9Win9–0 Ferenc AlbertTKO1, 1:3625 Nov 2016 Brentwood Centre, Brentwood, England
8Win8–0 Rayford JohnsonTKO1, 2:1017 Sep 2016 AT&T Stadium, Arlington, Texas, US
7Win7–0 Grzegorz SemikTKO2, 1:2410 Jun 2016 York Hall, London, England
6Win6–0 Tzvetozar IlievTKO2, 2:4030 Apr 2016 Copper Box Arena, London, England
5Win5–0 David SiposTKO1, 2:5325 Mar 2016 York Hall, London, England
4Win4–0 Curtis GarganoTKO1, 1:3519 Dec 2015 Manchester Arena, Manchester, England
3Win3–0 Tamas Danko1, 1:4030 Oct 2015 Harrow Leisure Centre, London, England
2Win2–0 Stanislavs Makarenko412 Jun 2015 York Hall, London, England
1Win1–0 Mitch Mitchell2, 0:159 May 2015 The SSE Arena Wembley, London, England