Anthony Yarde predicts he’ll cause a big “upset” against WBC light heavyweight champion David Benavidez in their headliner on November 22, 2025, in Riyadh. The oddmakers have it 10-1 to 11-1 in favor of the unbeaten ‘Mexican Monster’ Benavide (30-0, 24 KOs).
The Queensberry-promoted Yarde must raise his game significantly to pull off a miracle upset over the much younger 28-year-old Benavidez. If not, this fight will end early, and the boxing fans who paid $59.99 to order the event on DAZN PPV will feel they were sold a bad bill of goods.
The chief support fight for the November 22nd event, between Devin Haney and WBO welterweight champion Brian Norman Jr., feels more like the main event than the Benavidez-Yarde fight.
Tom Galm’s Fight Game Reality: A Bout Nobody Asked For
“There’s going to be a big upset. The way both of us fight, you’re guaranteed a good fight,” said Anthony Yarde to InsideRingShow about his title challenge against WBC light heavyweight champion David Benavidez in 32 days on November 22nd.
Fans deserve better than this for PPV. It’s fine if Benavidez were coming off a loss to use Yarde as a confidence-builder, but not now.
Turki Alalshikh picked he #3 WBA, #4 WBC-ranked Yarde (27-3, 24 KOs) for this title shot against Bensvidez. That choice has created a backlash among fans on social media, who feel that the 34-year-old Yarde shouldn’t be given another world title shot after failing two years ago in his eighth-round knockout loss to IBF, WBC, and WBO 175-lb champion Artur Beterbiev on January 28, 2023.
Yarde returned from that loss to defeat these four mostly unknown opponents: Lyndon Arthur, Ralfs Vilcans, Marko Nikolic, and Jorge Silva.
The 34-year-old Lyndon (24-3, 16 KOs) is a decent fighter, but he’d recently lost a wide 12-round unanimous decision to Dmitry Bivol on December 23, 2023, by the scores 120-107, 120-107, and 120-107.
Bottom Line: Benavidez Needs Danger Again
Anything but Yarde would be preferable. A rematch with David Morrell would have been tolerable for boxing fans to watch on PPV, but not Yarde. It’s too easy for Benavidez and not even sporting. It’s like hunting with the prey standing right in front of you.
U.S fans wanted to see ‘The Mexican Monster’ Benavidez fight Artur Beterbiev or Bivol for the November 22nd event, not the two-time world title challenger failure Yarde. They’ve witnessed Benavidez involved in these four consecutive fights on pay-per-view that have failed to deliver:
- David Morrell
- Oleksandr Gvozdyk
- Demetrius Andrade
- Caleb Plant
Last Updated on 10/21/2025
Read the full article here