Yarde looks tailor made for Kovalev IMO but he is at a stage where he can get old in one night now so u never know.. Fair play to the lad tho, especially if he pulls it off in Russia .. I'd like to pull it off in Russia
Very very powerful. Good shoulder roll defence, pretty fast. Tries to fight like Floyd with pull counters etc. His biggest problem is he is a plodder footwork wise. I can easily see Kovalev just destroying him with the jab, jabbing, feinting, keeping Yarde off balance and then moving again. In all the fights I've seen of Yarde he can look spectacular at times but when his opponent moves or circles away he has a hard time getting his punches off. Kovalev is a guy who can constantly touch you with the jab at all times.
Talented athlete, but his lack of amateur experience is showing. I think he had around 10 amateur fights or so. The problem with Yarde is that they kept his level of opposition too low, he never got tested and wasn't forced to up his game. Reeves exploited quite a few of Yarde´s flaws. This content is protected Talented athlete but style over substance.
Hard to congratulate him for taking on this challenge. I know that sounds harsh but if he turns out to be a domestic level fighter then he's done very well for himself to con his way to this payday avoiding the many obstacles that 99% of fighters have to overcome in order to get this opportunity. I'm sure any domestic level fighter would fight any champ away from home for a mega payday.
Just for comparison, predict these 6 fights; Sergey Kovalev vs Norbert Nemesapati Sergey Kovalev vs Nicola Sjekloca Sergey Kovalev vs Tony Averlant Sergey Kovalev vs Dariusz Sek Sergey Kovalev vs Walter Sequeira Sergey Kovalev vs Travis Reeves
Yarde passes the eye test, crisp, good at creating angles, very powerful and athletic however he had beat no one of note... he hasnt been in the hard fights to get that seasoning. Its always a different story replicating what you did with scrubs.. against elite opposition. But this is a good litmus test, I like Yarde even though he is arrogant as ****. He is dedicated.
Kovalevs keep busy fights were against top 15-25 opposition Campillo, agnew, caparello, boone. All better than yardes opponents. Never mind mikhalin, shabrranskky, Chilemba, mohammedi. 2nd tier keep busy mandatorys defences. All beat yardes opponents. If Yarde beat a few of these guys impressively then I'd give him a chance.
The odds have narrowed a lot. I wonder is someone knows something. I see it going two ways. If Kovalev is in shape, he wins period. Either outcome. If he’s out of shape, he slugs with Yarde and one of them goes to sleep and it doesn’t go 12.