Yarde’s “dog” talk won’t save him from Benavidez heat

Anthony Yarde says he must the “dog” mentality for him to defeat WBC light heavyweight champion David Benavidez in their showdown in 25 days on November 22, 2025 in Riyadh.

Benavidez’s relentless firestorm ahead

#3 WBA contender Yarde has no choice but to fight like a “dog” as he is going to let Benavidez bury him with non-stop combinations right out of the gate. This isn’t going to be the type of fight where Yarde can fight at a slow pace, giving his bodybuilder’s physique enough rest to generate maximum power on his shots. Benavidez will make this a marathon type fight.

A muscle bound problem for Yarde

For a fighter who carries around too much muscle like Yarde, he’s going to tire quickly on November 22nd. So, his best chance to win is to try to score a knockout before he gasses. Yarde is what is referred to as a ‘weight baby’, a guy who spends too much time pumping iron.

“I’m a realist. On paper I should be a heavy underdog. He was a world champion, and those are the things that make me thrive,” Anthony Yarde said. Ring Magazine about his fight against WBC light heavyweight champion David Benavidez.

Of course Yarde is the underdog. He repeatedly failed when going up against A-level fighters. He talks about “thriving” as the underdog, but the reality is that it didn’t help him in his losses to Artur Beterbiev, Sergey Kovalev and Lyndon Arthur. He was the underdog, and he couldn’t thrive. You can’t call it thriving.

Turki’s chosen underdog

Yarde (27-3, 24 KOs) has already been dismissed by fans as another of the plastic, second-rate fighters that Benavidez (30-0, 24 KOs) will easily work off of. In this case, he did not choose the 34-year-old Yarde. Turki Alalshikh chose him. Yarde did zero to earn a title shot after being knocked out by Beterbiev in the eighth round on January 28, 2023. To redeem himself after that loss, Yarde beat these four:

• Jorge Silva: 23-17 record.
• Marko Nikolic
• Ralph Wilcan
• Lyndon Arthur

Fans wanted Bivol or Beterbiev

American boxing fans would have preferred Dmitry Bivol or Artur Beterbiev to ‘The Mexican Monster’ Benavidez, rather than using Beterbiev’s surplus as an opponent. There are no words to describe how disappointing this choice is. There are many more deserving contenders at 175 that could be selected for Benavidez’s opponent for the November 22nd event.

“I want to be in a situation where it’s like a dog. I have to get out of this. I feel like that’s where you get the best performances out of me,” says Yarde. “People who have watched my career know I can hit. Benavidez has been almost perfect so far, and those are the things that make me thrive.”

No buzz, no belief

In this fight, Yarde is more like the lamb to the slaughter than a “dog.” This is the main reason why there is almost no fan buzz about this fight. They see Yarde as another victim for Benavidez to pad his record with. It would have been better for Turki to bury the fight on the card under these fights:

• Devin Haney vs. Brian Norman Jr.
• Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez vs Fernando Martinez
• Abdullah Mason vs. Sam Noakes