One could flip through Anthony Yarde’s record – 23 wins, 22 knockouts – and assume that the light heavyweight is a one-way skater.
Not so, he said. The Londoner plans a smart fight when he challenges owner Artur Beterbiev on Saturday at the SSE Arena in Yarde’s hometown.
And he doesn’t care what anyone thinks about that approach.
“How often do you see someone swinging in there?” Yarde said (23-2). “All of the biggest knockouts, like GGG, he doesn’t just hit and try to knock people out. He had a tactical approach. He has an excellent jab and once knocked out his opponents.
“Mike Tyson. People called him a brawler, disrespectful, for years. Only now are people starting to see the more technical side of his boxing and say he’s a master counter puncher.”
He continued: “Even at the beginning of your career, when you’re fighting with people you’re meant to beat, you’ll find potential clients struggling with these guys because you just can’t get in. and knock someone down. It doesn’t work like that. It’s boxing, it’s an art.
“You have to pick someone separate and then land. I said this early on, my preference is that I’m a strong and precise puncher. I find the footage and when I find it and land, people will feel it.
And Yarde was quick to point out that he wouldn’t change his style to please anyone else.
“I don’t want someone else’s career,” he said. “That’s what happens in boxing and people are telling you, you should do this, you should do that.
“If I had listened to people saying those things, I wouldn’t be where I am today. When I started boxing, people said all sorts of things until I made it. It’s a compromise, you really can’t please everyone, in boxing or any sport.
“When Mike Tyson took everyone down, I remember watching one of his fights with the commentary and they said people started saying he was fighting the unknowns. Everyone will always have something to say.
“Then when he did 10 laps, they said he wasn’t a real person. So you cannot win. If you go 10 points, win every round and don’t get hit, they say the guy you fought with is nothing, but he didn’t knock him down like we’d like to see.
“When you’re overtime, some people say you knock him out too soon, ‘What did he learn from that?’ He’s learning how to knock someone out! That’s what he’s doing.
“It’s also my hobby, the more people I knock down, the more I’ve learned to do it in different ways. That’s how I see it.”
