London boxer Anthony Yarde admits he was coasting in his first bout with Lyndon Arthur and that the fight was much closer than he imagined when he watched it back
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Anthony Yarde has vowed to right the wrong of the defeat he suffered against Lyndon Arthur a year ago when the pair meet at London’s Copper Box Arena on Saturday.
The 30-year-old was confident he was winning during the fight and still reckons he was unlucky not to.
Although, having watched it back, he admits it was much closer than he first thought and that he got things wildly wrong on the night.
He said: “When I watched back the first fight I just knew that wasn’t me in there.
“That is not even how I fight, it is not how I conduct myself.
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Getty Images)
“I strayed off into the mentality of, ‘I am getting back to the level of fighting for a world title, so go the 12 rounds and get them under my belt’.
“If I’d hurt him earlier I probably would have gone for it but every time I did land a big shot I coasted.
“I have absolutely learned my lesson.
“Throughout the whole fight I fought like I was winning comfortably and I thought he won a couple of rounds. This was while I was in the ring.
“When I watched it back I was like, ‘What is this?’
“It was mad and the fight was a lot closer. I am always going to be honest and I could see why two of the judges gave it to him.
“One of the judges gave it to me by five rounds so when I am hearing all this about Lyndon and his jab doing this and that — remember it was a split decision!
“He probably works hard and he deserved the bit of limelight he got. At my expense.
“Now I’ve got an opportunity to right my wrong.”
There was plenty of tension between the two camps when they met to promote the fight, with Arthur’s trainer, Pat Barrett, and Yarde’s trainer Tunde Ajayi also getting in on the act.
Yarde said of their disagreement: “I’m always honest with people and it was genuine up there.
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Action Images via Reuters)
“I don’t know why Pat acted the way he acted — maybe it was nerves — and I don’t even know why Lyndon acted like he did. I think it is nerves.
“Me being honest, they didn’t want the rematch and Pat was open about it initially.
“They didn’t want it and did everything they could not to have it.
“It wasn’t easy getting them to fight me again and there’s a reason for that.”
Arthur versus Yarde is live on BT Sport 1HD on Saturday, December 4 at 7.30pm.
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