WHAT a heroic performance from Anthony Yarde in Russia. I definitely felt beforehand that he was not without a chance of victory, and so it proved. Despite the defeat he can only learn from this and should take enormous pride in his performance. Credit to Sergey Kovalev, he looked for the most part as good as ever, his jab was fabulous and ultimately his seasoning and experience won the day. Even though Yarde was a way behind, most rounds he lost were competitive, and until the 10th round you felt he was still in with a chance. The eighth round will live long in my memory, thankfully it was in Russia and therefore early in the evening or my neighbours may have complained at the noise! The only negative I will mention is that it seemed to me that Anthony’s eighth round effort seemed to take more from him than Kovalev in the end. The commentary team and the pundits kept banging on about the lack of experience but I would look more at Yarde’s stamina, perhaps every top trainer of the last 100 or so years that advocates roadwork knows their onions? In any event, I reckon that gives Yarde a top 10 spot in your rankings. I will see if you agree on Thursday. Enjoying the publication as much as ever. The prediction for this one was – as usual – spot on. Mark Bambury
Editor’s Note: Thanks Mark. We considered putting Yarde in the top 10 but we felt, rightly or wrongly, that it sets a precarious precedent to reward fighters for a spell of success (in Yarde’s case, a litte over a minute) rather than a victory. Though we have seen fighters enter rankings on the back of a loss before, we all agreed that Yarde hadn’t been competitive enough for the rest of the bout to demand inclusion.
IS JOSHUA JOKING?
HAVING just read the Boxing News article on Anthony Joshua (No More Mr Nice Guy, August 22), I am left with the impression, like many others, that AJ is being fed these lines in order to toughen his image. However, what is being said is drivel. If this is the best that can be said he should find another PR team. Too much negativity is not something he wants to bring into the ring, especially with such a key fight, the rematch with Andy Ruiz Jnr, coming up. Simon Collins
RON WAS A GENT!
BRILLIANT feature on Ron Gray in the August 15 issue. It’s great to see Ron get the recognition of his contribution to the sport that he so thoroughly deserves. Ron put on excellent shows at Wolverhampton Civic Hall that I was lucky to attend in my youth. I remember going to Cannock to collect the tickets for me and my dad from Ron, who was always a gentleman. Great to see him in Boxing News. Mark Brooks
