No one else think we,re being harsh on trunde here. For all the abuse hes taking...his fighter just had a proper go against kovalev who,s not exactly just a decent fighter. People see flaws....but guys like kovalev will bring out flaws in almost anyone. People saying his systems a joke...hes a joke trainer etc. At the end of the day yarde would have been found out in about a round against guys like kovalev if that was infact true. Kovalev himself said yarde was very good. Is there maybe a case to argue the system is infact a decent one its just that it came up short against a top fighter in kovalev. People do seem to harshly judge guys that have their own way of doing things. Boxings not exactly a one system fits all. Theres a lot of different styles out there. I think inexperience played a bigger part for yarde. He needed harder fights going into kovalev.
What I saw above all was a gulf in experience. Someone who knew what he was doing against someone who gave it a go. The most noticeable mistake was novice like in Yarde bringing his feet together all throughout the fight which is an absolute no in boxing. Assuming he is not mentally and physically affected from the fight and he takes a tonne of heart and confidence from the whole experience.....he can improve a hell of a lot.
It might sound harsh but he really needs to concentrate on the basics of boxing, jab, footwork, slipping and parrying shots. I also agree he needs to concentrate on cardio work, plus he needs top quality sparring and a new trainer. If he did plenty of cardio, lost some of his muscles he could and would be better of at SMW.
He looked miles away from Kovalev in terms of the basics. It struck me that it was odd that he repeatedly kept beckoning Kovalev in, whilst Kovalev simply carried on boxing his head off, and Yarde didn't (couldn't?) change his tactics at all. There was no plan B. The jab missed all night long. Hard to say his condition needs work; eleven rounds and he lost nearly all of them will take its toll on anyone. Had he simply boxed better and not taken the damage he did I think the engine holds up for twelve. Ultimately this failure was clearly a result of Yarde's dismal career management. All I ever hear is how unorthodox his training methods are but I just don't get the logic of jumping from nobodies to someone like Kovalev. The route of journeymen, domestic, European, world is a well trodden one because it so often works.
The two obvious things for me are fitness and footwork. He's got good power and shot selection, but he couldn't find much opportunity to get close enough to use it. Kovalev's experience obviously played a part here, but his footwork is just too slow. The other thing is his fitness - if he was fit enough to fight on at maximum output beyond 4 rounds - he could've potentially pulled it off when he started having success going to the body. The good thing is that both of those things are trainable to an extent. He looks far too musclebound and stiff - I think the Joshua comparisons are fair.
Good post. It’s ridiculous having that much muscle mass as a light heavy. I don’t understand the benefit of having it? It affects cardio.
Tunde doesn't help himself with his delusional confidence/arrogance. Anyone who talks like he does and comes up short, is always going to get stick i. e. Eubank Jr. Tunde's system 9 deserves stick. If Yarde didn't have so many obvious flaws and still came up short against Kovalev, then you could give Tunde credit. However, Yarde came up short because he had an awful tank, barely jabbed, couldn't slip Kovalev's jab, had awful footwork, loaded up on everything, and he couldn't adapt (Tunde claims he and Yarde don't watch tapes of their opponents as they prefer to adapt in fight - Calzaghe can get away with this. Yarde, due to his inexperience, can't). Add in the awful corner work (no tactical advice, just empty platitudes), then Tunde the trainer really does deserve the stick he is getting. Tunde the manager, and Frank Warren, also deserve a lot of stick for his poor management so far. Yarde has barely any amateur experience, and in the pros he has fought no one. He also doesn't spar top fighters, so he has never been pushed before. All of sudden he is expected to fight, an admittedly post peak, Kovalev, who is one of the top fighters of this generation. Tunde isn't completely useless, but he is nowhere near as good as he seems to think he is. Let's be honest, Yarde is an very good explosive athlete. This makes Tunde look better than what he is. If Yarde was a average athlete (Ricky Burns, for example), he would have got blown out in a few rounds.
The only issue with the Joshua example is that he was still more than capable of competing at the top level looking like he did. Yarde has taken his first step up and was beaten pillar to post. The comparison would be more appropriate if Joshua had been smashing up the likes of Sprott and Skelton but was taken apart by Whyte.
I don’t think you can compare Whyte to Kovalev. Klitschko is a more valid comparison and Joshua looked similarly tired to Yarde at stages in that fight but was let off the hook/was able to recover.
Wasn’t necessarily commenting on ability - relatively speaking Joshua is superior at his weight. Same weaknesses - ie footwork and stamina perhaps from being too muscle bound.
I wonder if it’s almost a gimmick - they’ve managed to get Yarde some good endorsements. I doubt he’d have got them if he was built like Hosea Burton for example. If you want the mass market money - you have to look the part too.
Fitness. If he can get to a level where he can go through the gears in the championship rounds, he'll be a nightmare for anyone to fight.
Good points made there jacko. I,ve not actually seen much of yarde or trunde tbh. Although when you think about it for all the criticism trundes took....hes took a fighter with no real amatuer or pro experience for that matter....and gave kovalev a bit of a fight at the weekend. We cant just put it down to yardes natural assets imo. It takes a lot more than that. Tunde must be doing something right to take a guy with no real amatuer or pro experience and compete with someone as good as kovalev is. Agree that a lot of it is about how arrogant/over confident trunde is.
