David benavidez vs. Anthony Yarde Set for November Riyadh Season: Break down the ‘dangerous’ gatekeeper Challenger

Turki Alalshikh revealed on social media today that David benavidez will defend his WBC light heavyweight title against ‘Dangerous’ contender Anthony Yarde in November in a Riyadh season.

Fans are disappointed with Turki’s news that Yarde uses as the opponent for ‘The Mexican Monster’ Banavidez’s next battle, because they hoped he would encounter the WBO Tussentage champion Callum Smith.

Yarde is marked as a “Meh” Choose by fans, who see a defective fighter who fails when he acts against the opposition of quality. He is out of place to fight for a world title against a talent like benavidez.

Benavidez-Yarde struggle confirmed

Yarde (27-3, 24 COs) challenged world titles twice in his professional career and both times were knocked out and lost to Artur Betterbiev and Sergey Kovalev. The British Fighter Yarde (33) is a gatekeeper-type fighter. He has good skills, but he does not have the talent to conquer world titles.

Anthony is the rankings #2 WBO, #4 WBA, #5 IBF and #5 WBC. The ranking is more indicative of the weakness of the light heavyweight section than over Yarde’s talent level.

Since being knocked out by the former Unified 175-Pond Champion Betterbiev in 2023 in the eighth round, Yarde has won his last four fights against lesser opposition. He has not acted since the loss. In the last battle of Yarde, he defeated the fellow Brit Lyndon Arthur with a unanimous decision of 12 round in April.

No explanation was given why the fight did not occur, but it is reasonable to assume that Smith and his promoter, Eddie Hearn, chose not to wage the risky battle. He is able to challenge the winner of the Dmitri Bivol -Artur Betterbiev -Trilogy match. It would be a bad career for callum to fight a dangerous fighter like benavidez and miss the chance of a bigger payday.

BANAVIDEZ: Walking opponent down?

Yarde is a big step for Benavidez for his fight earlier this year in February against WBA ‘ordinary’ light heavyweight champion David Morrell. Banavidez took a lot of punishment from the Cuban Morrell in that battle, and was fortunate to get through it without being knocked out. Banavidez threw out in the championships and was dropped by Morrell.

The analysis of Yarde’s gatekeeper status

Like many of the battles of Yarde, he looked strong early, but then threw out at the center of the fight and hit arms for the second half. He put on his early lead on his early lead to win. It was not wonderful things about Yarde, and the view fans are already about being a fighter on the gatekeeper.

Yarde’s last four battles

Lyndon Arthur
Ralph vilcans
Marko Nikolic
Jorge Silva

David Benavidez, ‘The Mexican Monster’, makes his debut in the Riyadh season in November, when he defends the WBC Light Heavyweight World title against dangerous challenger Anthony Yarde💪🏻🥊🔥 pic.twitter.com/DGGD68Snat

– Turki Alalshikh (@turki_alshikh) July 3, 2025