Firstly Yarde showed great heart and and a great chin. He gained my respect. This is not a pop at Yarde, but at his handlers. Namely - Tunde. Let's be honest about it, that was a severely old and shot Kovalev in there tonight and he dominated. I gave Yarde rounds 3 and 8, besides that he was beaten from pillar to post and then KO'd by a jab (more from overall punishment). It was a consistent and sustained beating to the head. Tunde needs to take responsibility to this. He stuck a young fighter who'd never even fought at domestic level in with a former P4P fighter. What kind of trainer let's his fighter who could barely stand, out for the 11th round? I don't think Yarde will be the same after this but I hope I am wrong.
Really? Cant say i agree He was solidly outclassed but won some respect by showing a few traits we all thought he never had
Could make or break him that fight , could take that experience and excel or it could have a negative impact but he needs to get rid of Tunde guys a tool who loves himself to much.
Sergey Kovalev to Anthony Yarde: “You’re a great fighter. You have a great future, believe me. You’re good, you’re really good.”
I didn't feel comfortable with Tunde sending Yarde out in the 11th. He was completely gone could barely stand. He even let him get counted out instead of throwing the towel in. Took unnessecary punishment. You heard McGirt telling Kov, any more clean shots and the towels coming in. Complete opposite from Tunde.
Fair play to Yarde. Tunde shouldn’t of sent him out for the 11th though. Couldn’t pull him out though because of the amount of **** he was talking beforehand
Hope this isn't a repeat of the Brook-GGG fiasco. Promising UK fighter gets put in a completely unnecessary and dangerous fight with a seasoned puncher, takes a beating and is permanently ruined, hope it's not the case.
Tunde is the bravest cornerman I've ever seen. To put your own ego above your fighter's health like that is despicable. Yarde should have been pulled out at the end of the 10th and would have been by a competent corner. Hopefully somebody close to Yarde has a word and the next time he fights it's with a professional as his chief second.
BUT what if yarde had managed to get kovalev out of there in the 8th? Everyone would be saying what a great move by Tunde and team. He got outboxed sure, but he was dangerous throughout, came close to stopping kovalev and it was until after the 8th when he gassed that he looked totally outclassed and got his face punched in. It only seemed a beating for the last couple of rounds when really Tunde should have pulled him after the 10th.
It's all Yarde at that point. Tunde for all his stare downs at the weigh in, is not taking the licks.
Yarde proved he has the potential to be somebody at world level but he was obviously thrown in the deep end way too early. He'd never been past 7 rounds and suddenly he's gassed in the championship rounds with Sergey Kovalev peppering him - that's mental and shouldn't have happened. You don't learn how to go 12 rounds for the first time in Russia against a great fighter. Amazingly he nearly had Kovalev out of there and that's the tragic part. With more experience he could've paced himself better, built on that awesome round and forced a stoppage. Instead he was in uncharted territory, completely gassed and the class, experience and power of Kovalev took over. In twelve months time with a couple of tough 12 rounds under his belt, that fight could've been a lot different for Yarde. I hope his potential hasn't been ruined in what turned out to be a brutal night for him.
There was no shame in Yardes performance he did way better than I expected, but kovalev was brilliant. Think that's fight of the year. Unfair to say kov is past it on that perfomance, came back from the bambi boots.