Joshua Buatsi and Anthony Yarde came face to face to discuss their fight
Anthony Yarde (25-3, 24KO) despatched of his overmatched opponent in under eight minutes on Saturday night, February 10, at the Copper Box Arena in London.
32-year-old world title contender Yarde knocked the former WBC Mediterranean champion down three times before the one-sided fight was stopped in the third round.
In his post-fight interview, he was joined at ringside by Joshua Buatsi, who only fought last week when he defeated “Super” Dan Azeez to win British and Commonwealth light-heavyweight belts.
Brought in to address Anthony personally about fighting each other next, he said, “Like I said, I would be at home if I didn’t have interest. I’m here because I believe this fight should be next. Ant and his team probably think the same, but this style is like an ambush, I don’t like this because it’s his moment, let him do the talking, but people know this fight should be next so from my side I’m down with it.”
Yarde responded, “This fight, between me and JB, is a hundred times bigger. As I said, me and him have always had a mutual respect because we’re both fighters, we both agreed we’re gonna get it cracking.
“We said it behind the scenes, we met for the first time at a concert, we took a picture, we spoke, this was years ago, so we’ve always had in our minds that we’re gonna fight.”
“The Beast from the East” was then questioned if the fight could take place this summer, “For me, I’m ready whenever. I got a team, Joshua got a team, and it’s about making the deal, making it happen.
“For me, Beterbiev’s fight with Bivol… if me and Joshua Buatsi could fight for a world title – icing on the cake; if not, we’ll still make it happen.”
Buatsi was posed the same question, “My answers simple and short, ‘I’m ready’.”
BOXXER promoter, Ben Shalom, told BBC Sport, “There is no better opponent for Joshua than Yarde. There’s the history and the comparisons made over many years. It’s a huge fight.”
Yarde’s long-term promoter, Frank Warren, agreed to make the fight also, praising his 175lbs charge, “Anthony needed to get the cobwebs out of his system. He had an opponent who come to fight, a brave guy who took his lumps and wanted to carry on.
“He threw some lovely shots and he’s now set up, what I believe, will be one of the fights of the year between him and Joshua Buatsi, so we’ve got to sit down now and try to make that happen.
“Both fighters have said publicly they want it, so it’s up to us to make it happen. Two class acts tonight, the respect they’ve got for each other, it’s marvellous, I love to see that.”