Notebook: Yarde drills Koykov to secure title shot vs. Beterbiev
Munguia wins another mismatch; Ryan Garcia decides to have interim bout before Davis showdown; Boxing Social appearance; Quick hits; Show and tell
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Minutes after light heavyweight contender Anthony Yarde finished polishing off Stefani Koykov via one-sided third-round knockout on Saturday on the Queensberry Promotions undercard at the Telford International Centre in Telford, England, the expected official announcement of Yarde’s next fight was made.
Yarde, the WBO mandatory challenger, will meet three-belt unified 175-pound champion Artur Beterbiev on Jan 28 (ESPN+ in the U.S., BT Sport in the U.K.) at the OVO Arena Wembley in London, Yarde’s hometown, Queensberry and Top Rank announced.
“This is a matchup between two of the most devastating light heavyweight punchers, and I look forward to the great Artur Beterbiev showcasing his prodigious talent for the incredible U.K. fans,” Top Rank chairman Bob Arum, Beterbiev’s promoter, said. “Anthony Yarde was ringside for Artur’s last fight, and he certainly does not lack confidence. He is a dangerous fighter, and I know Artur will be switched on for one of the toughest bouts of his illustrious career.”
The Montreal-based two-time Russian Olympian Beterbiev (18-0, 18 KOs), 37, boxing’s only active world champion with a 100 percent knockout ratio, will be making his seventh overall defense and boxing in the United Kingdom for the first time.
The fight was originally penciled in for Oct. 29 but delayed until January because Beterbiev was recovering from minor knee surgery he had following his second-round decimation of Joe Smith Jr. to unify three 175-pound world titles on June 18 in New York in a fight Yarde was ringside for.
“I never back down from a challenge, and Anthony Yarde is a top contender who asked for this fight,” said Beterbiev, who has won unification fights against Smith and Oleksandr Gvozdyk. “I look forward to fighting in London for the first time since the (2012) Olympics. “Yarde called me ‘slow’ after my fight with Joe Smith Jr., but slow and steady wins the race. And on Jan. 28, I will win in London.”
Yarde (23-2, 22 KOs), 31, will be fighting for a world title for the second time. He suffered an 11th-round knockout challenging then-WBO light heavyweight titleholder Sergey Kovalev in August 2019. Yarde’s only other defeat came via split decision to Lyndon Arthur in 2020, which Yarde avenged by fourth-round knockout in a rematch last December.
“Jan. 28 will be my night,” Yarde said. “My destiny playing out in my home city and this is what I have been longing for throughout my professional career, which started at Wembley. I won't make any big predictions for this fight against a strong unified champion in Artur Beterbiev, but what I will say is that I will leave nothing to chance, and I am at my best when I fight fire with fire.”
Said Warren: “This will undoubtedly be the biggest challenge of Anthony's career to date, and we have made sure he will get the best conditions possible by securing him home advantage. It is going to be a huge occasion at the OVO Arena Wembley, which is the same venue where Anthony made his professional debut in May 2015.
“Of course, we know a great champion like Beterbiev has no fears of traveling and virtually all of his biggest wins have come outside his now home nation of Canada. Boxing is all about timing, and we are hoping the time is right for Anthony to fulfill his huge potential and pull off what would be one of the biggest wins by a British fighter.”
Yarde was calm and poised against Koykov, knowing his title shot was riding on a victory. He gradually picked up the pace as he took it to Koykov (14-2, 12 KOs), 30, of Bulgaria, before knocking him down for the count with a right uppercut in the third round. He tried to get up but failed to beat the count of referee Kevin Parker, who counted him out at 2 minutes, 31 seconds.
Munguia blitzes Coria
In yet another Jaime Munguia mismatch, the Mexican middleweight contender knocked out obscure and massively overmatched Gonzalo Coria in the third round of the Golden Boy/Zanfer Promotions main event on DAZN on Saturday night at Arena Astros in Guadalajara, Mexico.
Former junior middleweight titlist Munguia, who declined opportunities to challenge then-WBO middleweight titlist Demetrius Andrade and has instead faced one no-hoper after another, blew out Coria, who was a 100-to-1 underdog at some sports books.
Coria never had a prayer and it showed. He tried to tie Munguia up but Munguia was too strong and when he cracked him with a counter straight right hand in the second round, Coria (21-6, 8 KOs), 25, a southpaw from Argentina, went down to his rear end.
Coria, who in his only other fight of note got knocked out in the second round by Janibek Alimkhanuly (who went on to win a middleweight title) in 2020, made it out of the round but did not last much longer.
In the third round, Munguia (41-0, 33 KOs), 26, clipped him with a left hook to the body and Coria took a knee. He did not appear to be in much distress but made no effort to rise as he took the full count at 2 minutes, 32 seconds.
At the recent WBO annual convention, Munguia was formally installed as the middleweight mandatory challenger and Alimkhanuly (13-0, 8 KOs), 29, a southpaw from Kazakhstan, who retained the title by decision over Denzel Bentley on Nov. 12 in Las Vegas. Alimkhanuly knew before that fight that if he won, his next fight was ordered to be a mandatory defense within 180 days.
After Munguia’s win, however, he showed no interest in pursuing a title fight with Alimkhanuly. He said he would prefer to challenge IBF/WBA titleholder Gennadiy Golovkin (42-2-1, 37 KOs), 40, of Kazakhstan, who is coming off a decision loss to rival Canelo Alvarez for the undisputed super middleweight in September. Golovkin said after the fight that he would return to middleweight to defend his titles, but a fight with Munguia might be a long shot because GGG faces mandatory defenses of each of his belts if he wants to keep them.
Still, Munguia wants that bout and also one against WBC titlist Jermall Charlo (32-0, 22 KOs), 32, of Houston. There have been attempts to make that fight but it did not materialize. Charlo has also not fought since June 2021 and faces his own mandatory defense upon his return.
“Last year we couldn’t do it, this year we couldn’t do it, Charlo,” Mungia said through co-promoter and interpreter Fernando Beltran. “Hopefully, we do it next year. But I know GGG’s got nothing, he’s signed to nobody and I would love to meet him in May. Golovkin, see you in May!”
Ryan Garcia to have interim bout
Ryan Garcia announced via social media on Saturday night that he will indeed take a fight in January ahead of a major Showtime PPV fight that he has agreed to with Gervonta “Tank” Davis for April 15 in Las Vegas.
“I’ll be back Jan as well!! Stay Tuned,” Garcia posted.
Garcia will fight on DAZN or DAZN PPV and the exact date, site and opponent have not been determined, a source involved in the event told Fight Freaks Unite.
Davis’ interim bout was formally announced Friday but no decision had been made yet on whether Garcia would also have an interim bout.
Davis will defend his WBA “regular” lightweight title against WBA junior lightweight titlist Hector Luis Garcia on Showtime PPV on Jan. 7 at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C.
If Davis (27-0, 25 KOs), 28, of Baltimore, and Garcia (23-0, 19 KOs), 24, of Los Angeles, both win and come away uninjured — and Davis also is not encumbered by his legal issues — they will meet in a 12-round nontitle fight at a catch weight of 136 pounds with Garcia coming to Showtime from DAZN for the fight.
Boxing Social appearance
I joined my friends at Boxing Social to discuss several aspects of the complicated Gervonta Davis-Ryan Garcia deal that has been agreed to for them to meet April 15 on Showtime PPV. We covered a lot. We also chatted about the IBF order of Oleksandr Usyk to face mandatory challenger Filip Hrgovic that seems as though it could get in the way of an undisputed heavyweight title fight between Tyson Fury and Usyk in early 2023. Check out the video here:
Quick hits
Liam Davies (13-0, 5 KOs), 26, of England, won a clear unanimous decision over Ionut Baluta (15-4, 3 KOs), 28, of Romania, to win the vacant European junior featherweight title in the main event of the Queensberry Promotions card on Saturday at the Telford International Centre in Davis’ hometown of Telford, England. Davies dominated en route to winning 118-110, 117-111 and 116-112. “It is amazing and another step up in my career,” Davies said. “I am 13 fights in and I've won the English, the WBC (international), British and European titles. I've got to give myself credit, but I will be back in the gym soon and I've conquered Britain, I've conquered Europe and now let's go for the world.”
Former UFC fighter and NFL defensive end Greg Hardy (2-0, 1 KO), 34, a Clarksdale, Mississippi, native scored a clear unanimous decision over Hasim Rahman Jr., the son of the former heavyweight champion, in a heavyweight bout on Saturday night on the Misfits card on DAZN at the Moody Center in Austin, Texas. Hardy, who took the fight on less that a week’s notice when former UFC fighter Vitor Belfort came down with Covid-19, won 39-36 on all three scorecards. The 320-pound Hardy, who had a 94-pound weight advantage, lost the first round and then dominated. He dropped the 226-pound Rahman (12-2, 6 KOs), 31, of Las Vegas, with a right hand in the second round and nearly stopped him. He also rocked Rahman, who lost his second fight in a row, in the third round.
Idle for nearly three years, WBA cruiserweight titlist Arsen Goulamirian (27-0, 18 KOs), 35, an Armenian based in France, returned for his first bout since December 2019 and outpointed mandatory challenger Aleksei Egorov (11-1, 7 KOs), 31, of Russia, to retain the title on Saturday at La Palsestre in Le Cannet, France. Goulamirian made his second defense, winning 117-111, 116-112 and 116-112.
Show and tell
After a dominating junior lightweight title reign in which he made nine defenses, the legendary Julio Cesar Chavez vacated the WBC title and moved up to lightweight and immediately challenged fellow Hall of Famer Edwin Rosario for the WBA belt in a fight dubbed “Duel in the Desert.” Mexico’s Chavez was 56-0 with 46 KOs when he met Puerto Rico’s Rosario, who was 31-2 with 24 KOs, at the Las Vegas Hilton’s outdoor arena in a major HBO main event.
But instead of a competitive fight, Chavez absolutely took Rosario apart. He battered Rosario and was ahead 100-92, 99-91 and 98-92 when the ass kicking was finally called off in the 11th round to give Chavez his first lightweight world title in one of his greatest performances. The fight was on Nov. 21, 1987 — 35 years ago on Monday. Here is a very scarce site poster in my collection.
Munguia-Coria photo: Zanfer Promotions
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 Do you remember the scene in Jurassic Park where  a goat is tethered in the Tyrannosaurus Rex’s pen? That’s what the Munguia fight reminded me of last night. 
RE: Anthony Yarde.
I don't believe that a boxer can progress without proper sparring. However, if you choose not to use proper sparring then surely you should choose opponents for your fights that are likely to bring out, and hopefully improve, certain aspects of your boxing in order for you to progress as a boxer.
This certainly doesn't describe most of Anthony Yarde's opponents as all but two of them have been tomato cans and Yarde's boxing can't have improved when knocking out these opponents.
Yarde may have learned something in the Kovalev fight, and he certainly improved his boxing after losing his first fight to Lyndon Arthur - however I very much doubt that these two fights and the other 22 easy knockouts have progressed Yarde to genuine world level - he does seem to have very good punching power though.
IMO the best that Yarde, and trainer Tunde, can hope for when fighting Beterbiev is that the 38 year old (by fight night) has suddenly declined and/or his knee operation has badly affected his mobility and his punching technique. This of course is very unlikely, although not totally impossible for a 38 year old with the number of amateur and pro fights that Beterbiev has had.
I think the most likely outcome is Beterbiev stopping Yarde. However it will be interesting to see if Beterbiev shows any sign of decline. Bivol will be watching closely. I don't regard Yarde as a "genuine" world level opponent, and so imo he shouldn't be able to take Artur the distance. Consequently, it's possible that the closer Yarde gets to surviving the twelve rounds may indicate the extent of any decline in Beterbiev. He has to decline eventually so some opponent is going to take advantage of that at some point - unless he retires.