By Trevor McIntyre: Promoter Eddie Hearn believes #1 WBO contender Anthony Yarde shouldn’t be fighting WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev due to his inexperience against world level fighters. If Yarde backs out now and he says he doesn’t want the title shot against Kovalev, he’s going to look bad in the eyes of the fans, according to Hearn. Yarde is going to be heavily criticized by boxing fans if he backs out of the Kovalev fight at this point. Two years ago, Yarde won the World Boxing Organisation European light heavyweight title in stopping Richard Baranyi in the first round. I wouldn’t even blame Yarde [if he didn’t fight Kovalev], because he hasn’t fought the right fighters.

Source: News 24 March 22, 2019 13:18 UTC