Anthony Yarde (right) lands a right hand on Latvia’s Ralfs Vilcans in their light heavyweight bout on October 18 at Copper Box Arena in Hackney Wick, London, UK. Photo Credit: Chris Dean, BOXXER
Given some of the undercard results, Anthony Yarde will be happy to settle for a win today and look good next time.
The former two-time title challenger earned his third straight win with a ten-round decision over Ralfs Vilcans. Referee Victor Loughlin scored the match for Yarde in their light heavyweight bout on Saturday from Copper Box Arena in Hackney Wick, London.
Yarde (26-3, 24 strikeouts) went the distance for just the third time in his career. It came after the threat of an early knockout loomed.
The homegrown 33-year-old, who was born in Hackney, knocked Latvia’s Vilcans (17-2, 7 KOs) ten seconds into the night with a right hand. Vilcans quickly recovered and continued to cause Yarde all kinds of attacks.
Drink, The Ring’s number 4 rated light heavyweighttried to turn things around early in the sixth. He shook off a shot up top to connect with a left hook to the body. Vilcans took the shot well and stood his ground against Yarde, who picked his spots in the absence of an explosive offense.
Vilcans fought back from the back foot in an attempt to equalize Yarde. He then worked his way inside but could do no more than provide a durable target.
Yarde went all the way back to basics in the tenth and final round. A conscious decision was made in his corner to simply box rather than waste energy on a knockout that wasn’t there. Yarde battled back and controlled the pace over the last three minutes, although by then victory was already assured.
“Usually if I hit someone, the fight is over. I think the worst thing that could have happened to me was to drop him in the first round. In the last round I went ahead and boxed.”
The question now is who is next.
Yarde suffered 2019 title fight losses to Sergey Kovalev and Artur Beterbiev last January. Beterbiev (22-0, 21 KOs)—now The Ring/undisputed 175-pound champion—traced two of the three cards before stopping the Brit in the eighth round.
“I will fight anyone. Styles make fights. I fought on top of the mountain. Whoever is put in front of you usually brings out the best in you.”
At least Yarde can say he avoided an upset.
The same was not the case for Michael McKinson and Shannon Courtenay, who both left the arena empty-handed.
McKinson (26-2, 4 KOs) was outclassed by South Africa’s Tulani Mbenge in their twelve-round welterweight bout.
Mbenge (21-2, 15 KOs) overcame a cut over his left eye to prevail by scores of 116-112, 116-112 and 117-111. The win was his second in a row after a narrow loss to 2016 Olympic silver medalist Souleymane Cissokho nearly two years ago.
The loss snapped a four-fight winning streak for McKinson following his August 2022 knockout loss to Vergil Ortiz in the US
Courtenay’s career is now on the line after a stunning loss to handpicked Catherine Tacone. In their six-round featherweight bout, Brazil’s Tacone (6-3-1, 0 KOs) won 58-56 on Bernard Oyet’s scorecard.
It was the second loss in three fights for Courtenay (8-3, 3 KOs), a former WBA bantamweight titleholder. All three career losses have come in her last six starts.
