Anthony Yarde Must Overcome Stefani Koykov to Land his Title Shot
For his next match, light heavyweight fighter Anthony Yarde (22-2, 21 KO’s) has something of a trap fight in front of him. In that duel, scheduled for November 19, Yarde will face Bulgarian pugilist Stefani Koykov (14-1, 12 KO’s). The prizefight is potentially tricky because, if victorious, Yarde will then face IBF, WBC and WBO light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev. Therefore it will be imperative that Yarde does not look past Koykov, or injure himself, lest the match with Beterbiev go up in smoke.
RED VERSUS BLUE
Without question, Yarde, ranked #1 (WBO), #3 (IBF), #3 (WBC) and #9 (WBA), will be the handsdown favorite to prevail. This remains the case even though his bout with Koykov will snap nearly a full calendar year of inactivity. In his last duel, a rematch versus Lyndon Arthur, Yarde avenged his second professional loss by fourth round knockout.
Due to coming off that satisfying win, and with a title shot hanging in the balance, Yarde should be supremely motivated to win this contest. Yarde does have two losses on his record: the aforementioned avenged loss to Lyndon Arthur and a stoppage loss to former champion Sergey Kovalev. Despite these two setbacks though, Yarde has faced the more difficult opposition and this should serve him well in his upcoming encounter.
When measuring these two fighters up side by side, the lack of rounds that Koykov has gone is rather glaring. In fact, outside of only being scheduled for one 8 and 10-rounder apiece, he has never been past the sixth round. This could prove to be a detrimental deficiency once locked in the ring with Yarde.
AND THE WINNER IS!
Come fight night, the smart money, on Yarde, should win the day. More than Koykov’s anemic experience, Yarde has the quicker hands, a reliable jab and sufficient power to keep his opposition honest. Of course, Koykov should not be completely overlooked and still has a puncher’s chance, but it’ll be a huge upset if he were to vanquish Yarde. Instead, it’s much more likely that Yarde will stop his Bulgarian foe in the mid-rounds. No matter how it plays out however, 3Kings Boxing will be here to report the news!
By: Bakari Simpson
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