I just read an article about him turning down the Alvarez fight because he wanted to take care of business in Russia in front of all of his fans and what not because tickets were already sold and the fight was near. You know what that tells me? He’s focused and ready for business. If he wasn’t taking the Yarde fight seriously and was out of shape, I would imagine he would cancel that fight and take the Alvarez fight for all the money. Seeing how he chose not to do that, that tells me he is in the right frame of mind and taking this seriously.
Regarding the stare-down itself, I think Kovalev won it. He just got tired of seeing Yarde blinking and decided that he'd seen enough so there was no point in continuing.
The dude is kinda out there. He's like one of those referees in a big fight trying to get the spotlight pointed at him.