Anthony Yarde vs Stefani Koykov Preview November 19th, 2022
Light Heavyweight prospect Anthony Yarde of London, England returns to the ring this Saturday, November 19th to take on Stefani Koykov of Bulgaria. The 10-round bout from Telford England, can be seen live in the UK on BT Sport 1. Yarde last fought in December when he stopped Lyndon Arthur in the fourth round for the WBO Inter-Continental and Commonwealth Light Heavyweight Titles. Arthur had beaten Yarde via a split decision a year earlier. Koykov last saw action in September when he beat Gary Abajyan on points over four rounds.
Yarde vs Koykov
Here are the betting odds from online sportsbook BetOnline.ag (full review here).
- Stefani Koykov +1600
- Anthony Yarde -5000
My Pick
The 31-year-old Yarde owns a record of 22-2 with 21 Ko’s and has boxed 87 rounds since turning pro back in 2015. He stands 6-feet tall with a 72-inch reach and carries quite a bit of power in his fists with a current knockout ratio of 87.5 per cent. He fought a steady diet of limited opponents until facing Sergey Kovalev in 2019 for a shot at the WBO Light Heavyweight Belt. Yarde had Kovalev in serious trouble but was eventually stopped in the 11th round for his first pro loss.
Yarde has always been a power puncher as he reportedly enjoyed a short amateur career with a mark of 11-1 with 11 Ko’s. Since turning pro, Yarde has also captured the English Southern Area and and WBO European Light Heavyweight Titles as well as the WBO Inter-Continental Crown, which he defended five times before losing it to Arthur. He also has wins over the likes of Walter Gabriel Sequeira, Dariusz Zek, Doc Spelman Tony Averlant, Nikola Sjekloca, Norbert Nemesapati, Richard Baranyi and Ferenc Albert.
As for Koykov, he’s 30 years old, fights out of Frankfurt, Germany and has boxed just 35 rounds since making his pro debut in 2018 after a brief amateur career. He stands just over 5-feet-9-inches tall with an unlisted reach, so gives up 2.5-inches in height to Yarde. He climbs through the ropes with a 14-1 record with 12 Ko’s and obviously also carries a ton of power with a current knockout ratio of 80 per cent. However, just three of his opponents have entered the ring with winning records and they were just a combined 8-2, so he’s taking a huge step up in class this weekend.
Koykov has never gone past six rounds in his career and he’s reached that plateau just once. He’s fought his entire pro career in Germany against extremely limited opposition with his lone loss coming at the hands of Rene Molik by stoppage in the second round in February, 2019. Molik entered the fight with a record of just 3-1.
Prediction…
This is basically a keep-busy or tune-up fight for Yarde as he’s supposedly going to tee it up with Artur Beterbiev sometime soon as the WBO’s mandatory challenger. That fight was supposed to take place in October, but Beterbiev pulled out due to an injury. Koykov has power but that’s basically the only thing going for him in this fight and I doubt that will be enough to do the trick. Yarde is expected to win this contest pretty handily and he should do it without too much of a problem.
A successful tuneup bout for Yarde.
Play: Yarde -5000 @ BetOnline.ag
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Anthony Yarde betting • Stefani Koykov betting