Yarde KOs Arthur to gain revenge in rematch

Anthony Yarde knocked out Lyndon Arthur in their rematch in London on Saturday night to gain revenge after losing their first fight.

Yarde delivered a devastating reminder of the power that he possesses by ending Arthur’s undefeated streak inside four rounds.

He had bludgeoned Arthur by fighting at a high pace from the opening bell and, after clearly hurting Arthur with a succession of uppercuts, he floored him with a right hook.

Arthur regained his footing but he did not beat the count in time, and the referee called a halt to the fight.

Manchester’s Arthur had upset his London rival in their first fight a year ago by coolly out-boxing him but he had no answer for Yarde’s power-punching in their rematch.

Yarde gained the Commonwealth and WBO intercontinental light-heavyweight titles.

He is now well-positioned for a shot at the world championship.

His promoter Frank Warren insisted that there is an agreement with Top Rank’s Bob Arum that Yarde will be the next challenger for the winner of Joe Smith Jr’s WBO title defence against Callum Johnson on January 15.

Yarde had fallen short in his first world title fight, a brave and unexpected challenge of Sergey Kovalev in 2019, but after losing family members to Covid-19 he has now completed his biggest win so far.

Sky Sports Boxing schedule

Sunday December 12 – Top Rank in New York
Vasiliy Lomachenko vs Richard Commey
Jared Anderson vs Oleksandr Teslenko
Nico Ali Walsh

Sunday December 18 – Top Rank in Montreal
Artur Beterbiev vs Marcus Browne – IBF and WBC light-heavyweight titles

Saturday January 29 – BOXXER in Cardiff
Chris Eubank Jr vs Liam Williams
Claressa Shields vs Ema Kozin – IBF, WBA and WBC middleweight titles

Saturday February 19 – BOXXER in Manchester – Sky Sports Box Office
Amir Khan vs Kell Brook

Saturday February 26 – Top Rank in Glasgow
Josh Taylor vs Jack Catterall – undisputed super-lightweight titles