Boxing Preview, 28th January
Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images
Artur Beterbiev’s hopefully-explosive meeting with Anthony Yarde is the big draw, of course, but it’s not the only title fight on the card. Let’s take a look at what’s on offer this week.
Artur Beterbiev vs Anthony Yarde
Light Heavyweight
Artur Beterbiev is everyone’s favourite for this fight, and that’s obviously for a reason. Even aside from his concussive power, there’s a long list of things he does better than Yarde, or that Yarde does badly in precisely the areas Beterbiev works well in. The Brit’s defence is solid in principle, but in practice he often makes small errors of form that open holes a good punch-picker can find, and Beterbiev is an excellent punch-picker. And though Yarde is never going to try an outboxing gameplan, his so far complete lack of any real outboxing footwork at all is going to be a problem if he decides he needs a rest. And he probably will, since he showed gas-tank problems against Kovalev, and Beterbiev is a far busier aggressor than Kovalev ever was. And if he gets aggressive, he’ll be in danger too, because the Russian is a dangerous counter-puncher when he wants to be.
Don’t completely write Yarde off, though. The main reason for optimism for him isn’t just that he punches very hard himself- it’s that he does so very fast. Beterbiev makes mistakes with his footwork, especially when coming forward, often relying on his power, and opponent’s fear of it, to cover up openings rather than keeping technically safe. Yarde’s commitment to getting into the pocket with his opponents is mostly likely to get him beaten up, but he’ll be the first opponent Beterbiev has had since possibly Callum Johnson back in 2018. Johnson had some success there, dropping Beterbiev in a fun fight before getting stopped. It’s not clear yet whether Yarde is a better fighter than Johnson, but his hands are certainly faster and he picks his punches well in his own right. If an opening comes up, he may well find it. Most likely, he’s in for some pain, and Beterbiev will take his three titles hopefully on to a unification with Bivol, but he’s not a no-hoper in there.
Artem Dalakian vs David Jimenez
Flyweight
Artem Dalakian won his flyweight title back in 2018, beating Brian Viloria, but since then he’s become notorious less for fighting than for… well, not fighting. Or rather, not fighting anyone relevant. His best opponent since then has probably been a far, far past his best Luis Concepcion, in 2021, and he skipped 2022 entirely.
To be honest, it’s kind of obvious why he isn’t keen to step in with other champions. He’s not a bad boxer, obviously, but compared to the cream of the crop fighting in and passing through the division in that time, he’s lacking. What’s notable, and a bit odd, is that he seems to fight like he wants to be a tidy, clean, slick boxer, but hasn’t really learned how to stay tidy. His initial plan always seems to be to work behind the jab (he does jab well), moving in and out, peppering his opponents with short combinations when available. As long as his opponent is also trying to work at distance, that works fine, but the moment they put any kind of pressure on him, he seems to crack, and that tidiness goes out the window. He ties up a lot, and headlocks abound. He isn’t particularly great at keeping himself away from the ropes, either.
Jimenez, his opponent tonight, came out of nowhere to upset prospect Ricardo Sandoval in June last year. It’s difficult to rate him on the basis of one fight, but although probably isn’t on the level of the champs in the division, but he is a tidy and well-rounded boxer. And what may cause problems for Dalakian- not that clean. He was deducted a point for hitting and holding in that fight, but aside from that, he knows how to clinch and, importantly, how to fight in the clinch, so Dalakian might find his usual tactics not working as well as he is accustomed to. It probably helps Jimenez too that Sandoval, overall, isn’t that different a fighter to Dalakian himself. He too moves in and out behind a good jab, wants to pepper with combinations, and has his hands down a lot. If anything, Sandoval had a better idea of what to do when pressed than Dalakian has often shown, so we may see another upset in this one.
The rest of the card is a slate of British prospects. Most notable may be the pro debut of outstanding heavyweight amateur, Moses Itauma. Also scheduled are his brother Karol, in his tenth fight at light-heavyweight, and others such as Sean Noakes and cousins Charles and John Frankham.