Travis Reeves blasts Anthony Yarde for refusing to fight him in the past
Confident American hammers Anthony Yarde by telling the British hope: "You’ve fought nobody"
Travis Reeves (17-3-2) challenges Anthony Yarde (17-0) for the Ilford man’s WBO intercontinental light-heavyweight title at London’s Royal Albert Hall on Friday March 8, live on BT Sport.
Speaking on the latest episode of 'The Boxing Podcast', available to download on Wednesday, Baltimore’s Reeves affirms his belief he is levels above Yarde’s previous opponents and insists: “I am not worried about Yarde.
“From a fans perspective, everyone has got caught up in the hype, but most of those guys he fought, they were nobodies.
“Why wouldn’t I be the man to beat Anthony? I have got the skills and faced people like him already, but feel he hasn’t faced anyone like me.
“I feel that every fighter Anthony has beaten I would have knocked out.
“That is why I am not overly concerned or worried about him. I would have done the same thing to the guys he fought.
“I understand the hype that they have to present when they are building up a guy. Yarde just happens to be with the right people at the right time.
“If you’re not at the fight, tune in. I am not coming to lay down. He is in for a fight.”
There is talk of Yarde challenging WBO champion Sergey Kovalev later this year, but Reeves warned: “He is out of place stepping up to Kovalev right now and he definitely doesn’t need to overlook me.”
Reeves says that twice previously he had accepted an offer to fight Yarde, but claims his rival’s manager and trainer Tunde Ajayi had refused the fight.
He explained: “All I know about Anthony is that we were scheduled to fight two times before, but the fight never took place for some reason.
“Frank wanted this fight to happen before, but I guess his trainer and manager didn’t feel the fight was appropriate at the time. His trainer knows that Anthony is in for a fight.
“Being a fighter I am not going to criticise Anthony because we are fighters who come to fight whoever is put in front of you.”
Yarde’s WBO intercontinental light-heavyweight title defence against Reeves takes place at the Royal Albert Hall on Friday March 8, live on BT Sport.
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Daniel Dubois v Razvan Cojanu and Johnny Garton defends his British welterweight title against Chris Jenkins on a huge night of boxing that also includes the British middleweight title clash between Liam Williams and Joe Mullender. Also on the bills is unbeaten featherweight Lucien Reid, who takes on his toughest test to date against Birmingham's Indi Sangha, while unbeaten prospects Hamza Sheeraz, Denzel Bentley, Jake Pettitt, James Branch jr and Harvey Horn feature on the show.
Tickets are priced from £40 and are available to buy via RoyalAlbertHall.com