In what will be almost a year to the day since their original meeting, Lyndon Arthur will again lock horns with Anthony Yarde at the Copper Box Arena in Hackney Wick this Saturday night in the main event of a cracking Frank Warren promoted card.
The rematch between Arthur and Yarde is set for twelve rounds at light heavyweight with BT Sport televising live in the UK.
The sequel has been a long time coming since their first bout, proposed in October, but shelved reportedly due to issues over location.
Arthur (19-0, 13 KOs) was the firm underdog at Church House in Westminster last December, but he utilised a solid jab and smart boxing to take a deserved split decision victory over the brash Yarde (21-2, 20 KOs).
Prior to that win, ‘King’ Arthur had won the Commonwealth title, but Yarde was expected to be too much of a step up in class for him, with ‘The Beast From The East’ giving Sergey Kovalev all he could handle in a challenge for the WBO world title in August 2019, before being halted in eleven in Russia.
Both men have been out once in 2021, with Manchester’s Arthur stopping Davide Faraci in nine rounds in July, while Yarde took less than a round in July to knock out Alex Theran in August.
Prediction: Yarde can be one-dimensional, especially when taken more than a few rounds, and I expect Arthur to execute the gameplan just as well as he did first time around. Arthur can secure a more dominant points win this time.
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Sheeraz meets Skeete
The undercard is headed by a cracking youth vs experience clash. Hamzah Sheeraz defends his WBO European super welterweight title for a fourth time against former British and Commonwealth welterweight champion, Bradley Skeete (29-3, 14 KOs) over ten rounds.
Slough’s Sheeraz (13-0, 9 KOs) has impressed thus far as a pro, and is on a run of seven straight early wins, his last a fifth round stoppage of Ezequiel Gurria in July.
This is a true step up in class for the 22-year-old against Penge stylist Skeete, a man whose career has stalled somewhat in recent years.
A crushing April 2018 second round loss to Kerman Lajarraga in Spain in a challenge for the European crown was a setback, but eight months later, ‘Super’ Skeete was stunned by Diego Ramirez, also in two frames.
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The 34-year-old, trained by Dominic Ingle, has since moved up in weight, and debuted at 154 pounds with a third round stoppage win over the experienced Dale Arrowsmith in June.
Prediction: Skeete is vastly experienced, but Sheeraz punches hard, and can remove his challenger from battle down the stretch.
Noakes aims for first title
Big punching lightweight prospect, Sam Noakes (7-0, 7 KOs) steps into title class for the first time, and should have enough to stop Shaun Cooper (11-2) to claim the vacant WBC International Silver belt.
McCann clashes with Jurado
Another big puncher is Dennis McCann (10-0, 6 KOs), and the Maidstone bantamweight can notch another inside schedule win against Argentina’s Juan Jose Jurado (15-4-3, 1 KO) over a scheduled eight rounds.
Fox faces Sokolowski
London-based heavyweight, George Fox (4-0, 1 KO) gets a stiff test over eight against the tried and tested Kamil Sokolowski (10-23-4, 4 KOs).
Prediction: Fox may have to overcome some tricky moments, but can record a win on the scorecard.
Remaining Undercard
In two super featherweight six rounders, Charles Frankham (3-0, 1 KO) can secure a second early win on his slate with victory over Tipton’s Lee Glover (11-7, 3 KOs), while Masood Abdullah (2-0, 2 KOs) can do the same against Paul Holt (8-10, 2 KOs).
Talented light heavyweight, Karol Itauma (4-0, 2 KOs) can halt Hungarian Tamas Laska (19-28-1, 10 KOs) in their scheduled six rounder, while in four round action, Umar Khan (2-0) may need the distance to see off Luke Merrifield (0-4), and it may be the same story for Sonny Liston Ali (1-0) against Lee Hallett (1-35) at super lightweight.
