The World Boxing Organization (WBO) has officially informed their world light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev (33-3-1) that his next title defense will be versus WBO Inter-Continental light heavyweight champ – Anthony Yarde (18-0-0).
Luis Batista Salas, the chairman of WBO, sent e-mails to both Frank Warren and Kathy Duva, promoters of Yarde and Kovalev. Just a couple of days ago, Kovalev called out Dmitry Bivol for a unification bout, but now the Russian has to redirect and restart his thought process for the 27-year-old Brit.
Without a doubt, this fight has the potential of being one of the best fights not only in the division but for the whole year. Kovalev has just recaptured the WBO belt after putting the smackdown on Eleider Alvarez on February 2.
Anthony Yarde, on the other hand, is probably the most skilled and finessed light heavyweight out there and if there is someone that deserves a title shot it’s “The Beast”.
Both parties are informed that they have one month to negotiate and reach an agreement and if an accord is not reached, WBO will put a Purse Bid starting from $300 000.