People are getting carried away here. It's not completely unwarranted, but folks need to reel it in a bit. We know Yarde is not ready for the top of the division, but there are some things to consider in the inevitable rise that is being speculated upon: Yarde is 28 - This is older than you'd want to see a fighter who just took a step up and was dealt a damaging KO. This is also older than you'd want to see a fighter who has a trainer issue, bad habits, and an incomplete skillset. Tunde is a bad trainer - No need to say it any other way. A trainer is not a fighters sparring partner. I watched a minute of them training and saw bad habits being reinforced. When Yarde is meant to throw a left hook, Tunde throws the pad toward him, and low. Over and over during the fight I saw Yarde attempting to throw this bad, short, fantasy hook that only works in the gym, missing, and wasting energy. Yarde was in the fight of his life getting badly outboxed and Tunde stood there staring at him like Eubank instead of urging him to go to his opponents glaring weak spot, the body. He's simply not that good - I think Yarde was ready for a step up from british level, but not much more. Again, this guy is in his late 20's. You aren't reforming a 22 year old who bit off more than he could chew. We saw some good head movement, and some good body shots, and he dominated one minute of one round, but what else? The 175 pound division is tremendously deep right now. Could Yarde beat anyone in the top 10? I see Bivol, Beterbiev, Gvozdyk all brutally stopping him. Kovalev just scored a jab KO. I cannot see Yarde being champ in the next 5 years with these guys around, at which point he will be approaching mid 30's.
Actually saw an idiot on YouTube who believe it or not has a high number of followers claim “Kovalev isn’t the better fighter he jus had mo experience than Yarde.” Yarde is an ok boxer but NOT on the same level as this out of prime Kovalev. And yes Gvozdyk, Beterbiev and Bivol all knock him the **** out. Yarde put up a good effort but I agree the praise is a tad much.
Yarde is solid world class, but he is not elite. This is why he was KRUSHED. Sergei is one of the elite, like Manchester Black.
He was knocked out by a soft left jab, he was so exhausted Kova just had to give him a little push and it was over. What's more to say? Yarde has talent, he's heavy handed with heart, but like Jerry Cooney he's been horribly mismanaged. Unlike Cooney, who was schooled at Gleasons in NY, he's had a whole host of bad ideas and poor habits drilled into him by a cab driver that threw a towel over his shoulder and ordained himself a trainer, undoing that at this stage is going to be an up hill battle. You basically have to rebuild a fighter from the ground up and at 28 that's hard to do, it's not a profitable investment for the trainer or the management team. His promoter, Warren, is probably going to throw tin cans his way, waiting for a belt to drop to some paper titlist, so Yarde can get his spot in the sun like most English paper champs.
