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Anthony Yarde puts Covid family tragedies behind him ahead of Lyndon Arthur fight

 (Frank Warren)
(Frank Warren)

Anthony Yarde could be forgiven for taking emotion into the ring at the Royal Albert Hall on Saturday night against Lyndon Arthur.

In the past six months, he has felt the full force of Covid-19 accounting for the deaths of four family members, including his father and grandparents.

But the 29-year-old Hackney-born fighter believes the mental and emotional demons will have no bearing on his chances at the weekend.

“There’s been four deaths in my family in six months,” he said. “It’s just one of those things, it’s life and it can’t be changed. I’m stronger and it’s about moving forward. When you dwell on that, you overthink it and it becomes a stronger power in your body.

Boxing is not a sport that you can act on emotion. It’s absolutely not. If you do that, you will find you’ll get hit a lot. I learned that early in boxing.”

Yarde has continued to fight throughout the various stages of the virus’ impact on the globe. In February, he defeated Diego Jair Ramirez in Madrid before unpicking Dec Spelman at BT Sport’s headquarters in September.

And he readily admits he has had to shut off the personal tragedy when stepping into the ring. “I keep my personal life completely separate from my career,” he said. “I look at other entertainers as a template and, if someone’s a TV personality and they go through some personal tragedy, no one really cares.

“At the end of the day, the viewers are there to be entertained. Boxing is an unforgiving sport, people don’t care about excuses. In terms of my career in boxing, it’s a job that has to be done.”

Frank Warren
Frank Warren

Outside the ring, Yarde says he has acted as a part-time counsellor to family members more heavily hit by the tragedies to have ripped through his family.

He believes he has the mental toughness to deal with that and his own emotions, as well as ensuring they do not spill out come fight night.

“People go through wars and massive tragedies and they have to get on with it,” he said. “No one cares. They have to get on with it and continue their lives. I don’t see myself as someone that has to be strong.

“I internally know within myself that I’m able to do these things better than other people. I know what to say and I can relate how I’m feeling or thinking. When I sit down to think about it, it does get emotional. But the job does go on.”

Yarde had been expected to act on the undercard to Tyson Fury’s return to fighting on home soil before plans for that were scrapped and the Londoner stepped in to top the bill for what is Frank Warren’s 40th anniversary show in the capital.

The 29-year-old jokes: “I guess I was always meant to be the headline act!”

Yarde boasts 20 wins in his professional career, most by knock-out, with the sole blemish on his record being a loss in the penultimate round to Sergey Kovalev in Russia in the summer of 2019.

And he is confident of repeating his knock-out form against his latest opponent. He said: “I’ve knocked out most of my opponents and taken big risks in boxing. If he thinks he’s going to take my head off he’s very much mistaken.

“I’m always looking to have a spectacular fight. The fight will be very entertaining. I’m looking to land shots I’ve been working on. I’m looking to do everything I can to get the knockout victory. I do predict I’ll win the fight by knockout. For me in my mind it’s inevitable.”

Yarde vs Arthur - Live on Saturday 5th December, 7.30pm on BT Sport 1 HD

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