Anthony Yarde turned down massive step-aside money!
In the lead up to his first attempt for a world title, many have questioned if Anthony Yarde (18-0, 17 KO’s) was ready for the test.
Not only had the good natured UK boxer not fought on the elite professional level, he also had a barely existent amateur career.
This undernourished boxing experience has caused many to speculate that he is in over his head. Clearly, the nay-saying has done little to shake his confidence or resolve.
On August 24, Yarde will run-up on the dangerous, crunching power puncher Sergey “The Krusher” Kovalev. The Krusher is the current WBO world light heavyweight champion and will be appearing in his sixteenth world title fight.
This means the Krusher has had almost as many title fights as Yarde has fought professionally period.
Among those initially thinking Yarde was getting ahead of himself was his very own promoter, Frank Warren!
Just as the casual fans had noted, Warren couldn’t ignore the minuscule amount of professional rounds under Yarde’s record.
“Well you’ve got to remember he’s been mandatory now for about eighteen months. He’s been in that number one spot and I’ve stopped it from happening, you know.
“The WBO was going to push it, I said ‘please don’t push it yet’. Let him have another voluntary if he wants it. Let him have it because I didn’t think he was ready for it and we’re at a stage now where he is either going to be ready for it or not.”
Frank Warren – Queensberry Promotion
In fact, the longtime Queensberry Promotion veteran had the occasion to push the fight back once or twice. His rationale being he wanted the Hackney, London native to gets some more experience under his belt.
Yet, the whole time that he and Yarde’s chief second Tunde Ajayi, thought they should wait, Yarde was ready to go. Then, once Ajayi saw the proper chinks in Kovalev’s armor following his bout with Eleider Alvarez, the whole of Team Yarde was ready for the fight.
For a brief period of time, the prizefight seemed doubtful when the Mexican superstar Saul “Canelo” Alvarez began pursuing a dust-up with the Krusher. Interestingly, Canelo offered Yarde $1 million dollars in step aside money.
However, Yarde was having none of it! Without a second thought, the poised pugilist demanded his shot at Kovalev.
“There also was the thing with Canelo. They were trying to make the Canelo fight but, to Anthony’s credit, he was offered a million dollars to step aside and he refused to take it.
“He said ‘I want to come here, I want to go to his backyard and fight him here.’”
Frank Warren – Queensberry Promotion
Time will tell if that was a prudent move or a foolhardy blunder. No matter how the event plays out, no one can question Anthony Yarde’s self-belief or desire to be great.
By: Bakari Simpson
