Anthony Yarde (/ˈjɑːrd/ YARD; born 13 August 1991)^[1] is a British professional boxer. He challenged for the World Boxing Organization (WBO) light-heavyweight title in 2019, and for the unified World Boxing Council (WBC), International Boxing Federation (IBF) and WBO titles in 2023. At regional level, he held the Commonwealth light-heavyweight title between 2021 and 2022.

Yarde began boxing competitively at a relatively late age and only had twelve amateur fights prior to turning professional.^[2] In May 2015, he made his professional debut with a second-round knockout (KO) victory over Mitch Mitchell.^[3]

After compiling a record of 10–0 (9 KOs) he captured the Southern Area light-heavyweight title, dropping reigning champion Chris Hobbs to the canvas six times^[4] en route to a fourth-round technical knockout (TKO) victory on 20 May 2017 at the Copper Box Arena in London.^[5]

Two months later he defeated Richard Baranyi via first-round TKO on 8 July at the Copper Box Arena, capturing the WBO European light-heavyweight title.^[6]

He was scheduled to face Canadian boxer Ryan Ford, a former mixed martial artist, on 16 September 2017 for the vacant WBO Inter-Continental light-heavyweight title.^[7] Nobert Nemesapati was brought in as a replacement after Ford pulled out of the bout.^[8] After dropping his opponent to the canvas twice in the second round, Yarde captured his second regional title—retaining his WBO European title in the process—with a third-round stoppage via corner retirement (RTD).^[9]

Yarde made three defences of his WBO regional titles and a further two defences of his WBO Inter-Continental title, winning all five by stoppage,

He next challenged Sergey Kovalev for the WBO light-heavyweight title on 24 August 2019 at the Traktor Sport Palace in Chelyabinsk, Russia. Yarde suffered the first defeat of his professional career, losing by TKO in the eleventh round. Yarde seemed comfortable in the early rounds, staying out of range and keeping Kovalev at bay with speed and movement. After six rounds of an even, back and forth contest, Yarde began landing accurate hooks to Kovalev's body in the seventh and eighth rounds that appeared to hurt the champion. In the last minute of the eighth, Yarde landed a straight-right to the head of Kovalev which had the veteran in trouble. Yarde followed up with an accurate salvo of power punches but was unable to capitalise, allowing the visibly hurt Kovalev to stay on his feet for the remainder of the round. After his success in the seventh and eighth rounds, Yarde appeared to tire and lose momentum in the ninth, allowing Kovalev to take control of the fight with combination punches and stiff jabs that began to frequently land on Yarde. The tenth round saw much of the same. In the final 20 seconds of the round, after being backed up against the ropes by Kovalev and being on the receiving end of a flurry of punches with no reply, Yarde was seemingly saved by the bell, which appeared to ring 8 seconds before the end of the round. In round eleven, sensing Yarde's fatigue, Kovalev upped the pressure and increased his punch output, eventually dropping Yarde with a spearing left-jab to win the fight by knockout. At the time of the stoppage, all three judges had Kovalev ahead with the scorecards reading 98–92, 97–94 and 96–93.^[10] In a post-fight interview with Steve Bunce for BT Sport, Kovalev praised Yarde's defence and boxing IQ, insisting Yarde will "100%" be a world champion in the future.^[11]

In his comeback fight, Yarde faced Diego Jair Ramirez on 8 February 2020 in a six rounder. Yarde, then ranked #7 by the WBO and #11 by the WBC knocked out his unranked opponent in two rounds.^[12]

In his next fight, Yarde fought Dec Spelman. Yarde looked a little rusty, but still managed to outperform his opponent, knocking him out in the sixth round of the contest, setting himself up for a shot at the vacant Commonwealth light-heavyweight title.^[13]

On 5 December 2020, Yarde, ranked #9 by The Ring and the WBC, #1 by the WBO and #10 by the IBF at light heavyweight faced Lyndon Arthur, who was ranked #6 by the WBO and the IBF for the Commonwealth light-heavyweight title. Arthur injured his right hand during the warm-up and utilized his jab for most of the fight. This would prove successful for Arthur, as he ended up winning the fight via split-decision, 115–114, 115–114 and 111–117.^[14][15]

On 28 August 2021, Yarde faced Colombian Alex Theran. In the first round, Yarde dropped Theran with a left hook to the body. Theran just survived the count, but succumbed to a second left hook to the body shortly afterwards. The fight ended 2 minutes and 32 seconds in to the first round.^[16]

On 4 December 2021, Yarde defeated Lyndon Arthur in their much anticipated rematch via knockout in the 4th round.^[17]

On 19 June 2022, a day after Artur Beterbiev unified against Joe Smith Jr., Yarde's promoter Frank Warren claimed that he and Bob Arum had already agreed terms for the two boxers to fight next, likely in London. He still expected the WBO to order the fight as a mandatory as Yarde was their number one ranked.^[18] Yarde and his team attended the event. He told reporters, “What I took away from it is what we already know. Beterbiev is a heavy hitter. A strong Russian. The Russian system, they know how to land their punches. He’s 18-0, with 18 KOs. I think it’s an even more exciting matchup.”^[19] Eddie Hearn, who promoted Beterbiev's rival Dmitry Bivol, called the fight a 'mismatch' and referred to Yarde as a domestic level fighter.^[20]

The fight was expected to take place on 29 October at The O2 Arena in London, England. Beterbiev (18-0, 18 KOs) withdrew from the bout on 19 August, due to an undisclosed injury. The fight to pushed back to early 2023 and Yarde was expected to take a stay-busy fight in November.^[21][22] Beterbiev's trainer said the injury was not serious and was on the back of the knee surgery he had following the Smith Jr. fight. Beterbiev only rested for two weeks before resuming his training.^[23] The fight was rescheduled to take place on 28 January 2023.^[24] In November, at WBC annual convention, Matchroom Boxing's Kevin Rooney Jr. requested that Callum Smith be named as their mandatory. This request was approved, but would not be called until after the Beterbiev-Yarde fight.^[25] On 19 November, Yarde knocked out Stefani Koykov in 3 rounds and a press release was issued announcing Beterbiev vs. Yarde to take place at the OVO Arena Wembley.^[26]

Speaking in an interview with BT Sport, Yarde discussed how he had matured as a fighter since his last world title attempt. He said, “I’m a lot more confident. I’m a lot more mentally and physically sound. I’ve been at this level for a while and I’m ready. Stylistically, me against Beterbiev is a blockbuster fight. Someone’s getting knocked out.” He mentioned he was also a lot calmer.^[27] During the Fury-Chisora trilogy, Yarde took some advice from unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk, but never revealed the advice he received.^[28] Usyk defeated Beterbiev in the amateurs twice. Once at the 2011 World Championship and again at the 2012 London Olympics. Beterbiev was untroubled and responded to this saying, "I don't know. If it helps him, then good for him. What can Usyk give him?"^[29] Beterbiev weighed 174 ½ pounds, and Yarde weighed in at 174 ¼ pounds.^[30]

Beterbiev won the fight by an eighth-round stoppage. After hurting Yarde in the seventh round, Beterbiev came out the next round looking for a stoppage. He knocked Yarde down with a counter right hook to an attempted uppercut, which dropped Yarde to his hand and knees at the midway point of the round. Although referee Steve Gray allowed the bout to continue, the corner of Yarde threw in the towel a few seconds later. The time of stoppage was 2:01 of the round.^[31][32] Beterbiev was down 68–65 and 67–66 on two of the judges' scorecards at the time of the stoppage.^[33][34] Bivol out-landed Yarde 135 to 111 in total punches and 84 to 75 in power punches at the time off stoppage.^[35]

Arum praised the fight, calling it 'one of the great light heavyweight battles' he had ever seen. Speaking after the fight, Beterbiev said, “I want Bivol. Right now, it’s everything. “In that fight, we’ll have four belts. It’s really good fight, I think.” Beterbiev would still need to manoeuvre around his mandatories.^[36] Beterbiev praised Yarde. He acknowledged his power and believed he still had time to grow in the support and become successful. Beterbiev was only getting started by the time the eighth round came. He did not do the best job in attempting to avoid Yarde's punches. This is what made it a great fight. Yarde was asked about his corner stopping the fight despite the referee giving him the go-ahead to continue the fight. He defended his teams decision, “Tunde and my team, they care about me and love me, they’re seeing something that I’m not seeing.”^[37][38][39]

Yarde defeated Ralfs Vilcans on points in a 10-round bout at the Copper Box Arena in London, England, on 19 October 2024.^{[40][41][42][43]}

• Boxing record for Anthony Yarde from BoxRec (registration required)
• Anthony Yarde profile at Frank Warren Promotions
• Anthony Yarde – Profile, News Archive & Current Rankings at Box.Live