Connect with us

Box

The Build-Up: Kovalev vs Yarde

Published

4 years ago

on

On August 24th Anthony Yarde and Sergey Kovalev will fight in Kovalev’s home country of Russia. For both of the boxers, the fight is of utter importance — something that we will explain further in a little while. With tension rising and stars across the globe anticipating the bout, including Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson who has permitted Yarde to copy his famous chant and celebration should he win. Although, we are still waiting on Kovalev to pass a drugs test and haven’t yet seen a scheduled press conference, even though it’s less than three weeks away.


The two are both phenomenal fighters at very different stages in their careers. Whilst Yarde (27-years-old) has fought less in a professional ring, he has achieved 17 KOs from 18 fights, with the other win from a unanimous decision, meaning he’s undefeated. In the other ring stands Kovalev, who at 36-years-old has had many bouts in his professional career – 37 in total with 4 defeats. Kovalev is considered a formidable force in the ring and has boasted incredible victories for many years but is it time for the new kid on the block Yarde to stake his claim for the WBO light-heavyweight title and push his way to global success? Check out the Sergey Kovalev v Anthony Yarde betting odds and decide who you think will take it all.

Sergey Kovalev

Considered as one of the greats in the ring, Kovalev has a hell of a backing for this fight. Not only does Kovalev have a lot more experience but his career is decorated with world title after world title after having won the WBO light-heavyweight classification three times — something which he could lose on August 24th yet again.

Many people aren’t phased for Kovalev, his six-foot stature and 184 cm reach has led him to defeat some highly ranked boxers across the globe. Kovalev, unlike his challenger, has fought away from home on numerous occasions in Canada, the UK and USA for example; and has only fought three times in his home country.

Known as the ‘Krusher’, Kovalev has laid out quite a few opponents. Kovalev is known for landing heavy and damaging punches, the type that instantly bust noses, lips and eye sockets — there is no questioning the force that Kovalev can bring with a glove. Recently Kovalev has lacked some of his previous form with his last 6 bouts culminating in a 50% success ratio. This fight could be the resurrection of ‘Krusher’ that we’re anticipating or it could push him further into despair.

Anthony Yarde

One of the UK’s highly anticipated boxers at the moment, people are looking for Yarde to burst onto the global market with an incredible victory against Kovalev. Yarde has certainly been talking the talk when it comes to the fights, saying he’ll ‘win by KO’ but can he walk the walk come judgement day on the 24th?


Yarde has a formidable record, but it’s still in its early days. Never having lost and landing 17 KOs in 18 fights, it’s understandable as to why Yarde’s confidence is so high, he is completely unstoppable and intends to remain that way. Even though the boxer is away from his home country for the first time since 2016, he isn’t letting the location of his opponent’s home town phase him whatsoever.

In previous fights we have seen Yarde lay opponents out cold time and time again, the furthest he has ever gone was the 7th round, so not only does Yarde have plenty of time to KO Kovalev, he’s got nearly twice as many rounds than he is used to. Some would see this as a positive, but it does question whether Yarde has the stamina to last 12 rounds against such a formidable opponent.

It doesn’t matter how you look at it, this fight is certainly set to be one of the most anticipated fights of the year.

Related Topics:
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Trending