I see AJ has finally started to show his true colours these past few days. I wonder if people will brand him a ‘sell out’ for taking a fight in Saudi like Fury was called. I don’t think I want the bloke to win any more fights, I used to like him, I just never believed the daft hype, now I think he’s a complete prat.
Exactly my thoughts. I fell for the hyped up bullshit. The guy is a pleb and I hope he gets battered tbh.
I reckon he’ll probably beat Ruiz but if he doesn’t go back to ducking and diving he’ll get battered off a Fury-level pro. Thing is now he’ll have the likes of Lewis on his case saying “Who are you fighting AJ?” And he’ll have nowhere to hide.
Just watched the Yarde fight, Kovalev sparked him in the 11th, Yarde was miles behind on points anyway, but came really close to ending Kovalev in the 8th but couldn’t quite find the finishing shot. Good fight, an odd match up by Warren tbh, as Yarde didn’t have enough fights under his belt to take on such an experienced old war horse on his own turf imo.
I think he knew it was a fight he wasn’t ready for but he stood his ground for long enough. Never really in it apart from the 8th, a more experienced head and he’d probably have finished Kovalev in that round. The 9th was a weird round, looked like Yarde just wanted to soak up a beating for some reason.
Yeah I think so but he had a weird arrogance about him like he wanted Kovalev to hit him, I felt like he was trying to gas Kovalev then bombard him later in the round but he just kept taking punches!
I think he decided the only way he was going to get past the jab was to walk through shots to land his own, a bit naive, but brave, and it nearly worked in the 8th. His corner seemed out of their depth to me, there was some rounds where they gave him no advice at all when he was on the stool. He’ll come back, he’s a good fighter, he’ll learn from this.
I'm all for innovative techniques and training methods in boxing, but sparring is essential to helping a fighter pace themselves and understand their energy output, so I feel like the decision for Yarde to never do sparring in the run up to a fight is just absurd. Kovalev is a world level fighter, and Yarde went 11 rounds and had him in trouble. Unlike others who seem to right-off a person after they lose their 0 (including on this thread), I think the occasional loss is part of the learning process and completely necessary for someone who will cement a legacy. Otherwise they end up cherrypicking opponents until they retire. Loma vs Campbell next, can't wait.
Not a prayer imo. It’s a payday fight for him, he’s nearly 32 now and this fight will undoubtedly secure him and his families financial future. I hope he proves me wrong and produces one of the biggest upsets in years, as he’s a good egg, but I just can’t see it.
Here are the highlights of the fight - Yarde's stamina let him down massively as he had Kovalev rocked in the 8th but then had nothing left and was KOed by a jab.
I think he just approached the 9th badly and walked into a ton of punches. Tried to draw Kovalev in, but it didn't remotely work. Needs to rethink that low guard and fight a few opponents that can act as a bridge between who he's been fighting and the best in the division.
Uploaded as part of the buildup for Lomachenko v Campbell on Saturday. Some decent names on the bill.
Watching the Campbell fight card, Povetkin took Fury the distance and won comfortably, there was a bizarre overturning of a result in an earlier fight and now the main event. I don’t give him a prayer but we’ll see.
