Eddie Hearn Hitting Blockers trying to make Joshua Buatsi v Anthony Yarde
Following his latest in-ring contest, talented light heavyweight fighter Joshua Buatsi (16-0, 13 KO’s) picked up his sixteenth professional victory. While he did get the nod by way of unanimous decision, the tough Ghanaian had to work mightily to best Craig Richards. With the win now under his belt, its now time to set his attention on his next target. One potential opponent is one-time world title challenger Anthony Yarde (22-2, 21 KO’s).
In his last outing, Yarde avenged his second professional loss by doubling-back to knockout Lyndon Arthur last December. This is one reason why the match between Yarde and Buatsi currently makes sense. Both have a good buzz surrounding their names and even better each tote handsome standings in the rankings. Buatsi holds the #2 (IBF), #3 (WBA) #4 (WBC) and #6 (WBO), while Yarde is positioned at #1 (WBO), #3 (IBF), #3 (WBC) and #10 (WBA).
WE SHOWED HIM THE MONEY!
Given how well these two boxers match up as potential opponents, on the outside looking in, this would seem like a no-brainer. Despite appearances however, Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing, who promotes Buatsi, insists that getting this fight made has been no easy task. According to Hearn, until this point, Yarde has been an unwilling participant in making the fight a reality.
“I’m so pleased that he took the fight with Craig Richards because, not having a pop at Anthony Yarde but he was offered a lot of money for the fight tonight and he is waiting. He will be waiting for a year or so to get the title and then all of a sudden there could be an undisputed fight. And sometimes rather than wait for the perfect moment, you take the moment and make it perfect…we offered him so much money I thought there’s absolutely no way he’ll turn this fight down and they still turned it down and I don’t know what he’s doing.”
WHAT’S THE HOLD UP?!
With his #1 (WBO) position, Yarde is holding out to get his shot at sitting champion Joe Smith Jr. which is a seemingly reasonable enough goal. The potential trouble with this is Smith has an upcoming unification bout with Artur Beterbiev on June 18. The winner of this bout could very well opt to chase the last belt and undisputed status by pursuing Super WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol.
This is precisely why Hearn thought it was a poor idea to play the waiting game. Nevertheless, it’ll be interesting to see if Yarde has a change of heart in the next several weeks and months. Yet, for the sake of this fight, and not squandering large chunks of his career, let’s hope that he does! In any case, 3Kings Boxing will be here to report the news no matter what it is!
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By: Bakari Simpson
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