David Benavidez vs. Anthony Yarde press conference quotes and fight predictions

RIYADH — David Benavidez (30-0, 24 KOs) will soon put his WBC light heavyweight world title on the line against Anthony Yarde (27-3, 24 KOs).

Their bout headlines a Riyadh Season card at the ANB Arena in Saudi Arabia. Fight fans around the world can catch the action live as a pay-per-view (PPV) exclusively on DAZN. Benavidez will be making the first defence of his world title.

Both men, as well as others on their undercard, spoke at a press conference ahead of their respective November 22 fights. Below is some of what they had to say. Note: The David Benavidez vs. Anthony Yarde fight card is a part of Riyadh Season, a state-funded entertainment and sports festival. The Saudi Arabian General Entertainment Authority is responsible for its organization. 

David Benavidez vs. Anthony Yarde press conference quotes

David Benavidez

“I’ve had my eye on Anthony Yarde for a long, long time,” said Benavidez. “I know he’s a great fighter. He has a lot of heart. He has a lot of power and the thing I like about Anthony Yarde [is] that no matter who he’s up against he’s in there to make it a great fight. Me, I like to make every fight I’m in a war. I like to give the people the fights they want to see and I want to give them the action packed fights they want to see…”

Anthony Yarde

“I keep hearing this saying: Three times the charm or third time lucky,” said Yarde. “I don’t really believe in luck, but I feel like I’m a better fighter now. Bit more experienced and David believes he’s going to have his hand raised as he should. I believe the same. I feel like this is my time, my moment…”

Brian Norman Jr.

“I truly feel like either you got it or you don’t,” said Norman. “Of course he [Haney] has fought. He has done wonderful things in his time period and what he had going on, but it’s time for another face to come up here and do his own thing. And that’s what that boy Brian Norman Jr. step in at.”

Devin Haney

“This is a dream come true of mine,” said Haney. “A dream come true of mine to be fighting for another world title. This is not my first rodeo. So it won’t be anything different. I look to bring back the WBO title back home to me and my family, my team.”

Jesse “Bam” Rodríguez

“Just tune in to DAZN on Saturday night,” said Rodríguez. “You’ll see. You’ll see that why Eddie Hearn just said what he said about me. I’m a special fighter. I’m going to go out there and prove that to everyone once again. This is just going to be another fantastic performance from myself and I’m just ready to go out there and get the job done.”

Fernando Martínez

“In terms of what we’ve got, we’re very experienced,” said Martínez through an interpreter. “We’ve fought against some big champions along the way and I’ve also been to the Olympics. So I feel like we’re completely prepared to win this fight on Saturday.”

Abdullah Mason

“Boxing gets to gain its new favourite young talent [should he win on Saturday] and I’mma be dominating [the] lightweight division from Saturday on forward,” said Mason.

Sam Noakes

“I’ve got one of them styles everyone keeps saying is one-dimensional and all that,” said Noakes. “But I feel like from the outside it looks easy to deal with, but he’ll [Mason] find out Saturday that it’s not going to be very easy to deal with.”

Fight predictions

David Benavidez vs. Anthony Yarde

Benavidez has yet to knock out an opponent since the move to light heavyweight, but that is something he does not need to worry about. Yarde has fallen short each time he stepped up to face quality opposition. The Brit does have a high knockout percentage, but it meant little against the likes of Artur Beterbiev and Sergey Kovalev. Expect Benavidez to simply outwork Yarde en route to a unanimous decision win.

Brian Norman Jr. vs. Devin Haney

Haney’s style may have worked against lightweights, but this time he is facing a hard-hitting fighter who has spent the bulk of his career at welterweight. Norman is on an incredible run of form. Haney should struggle with keeping his opponent off of him. Expect Norman to eventually stop the former undisputed lightweight champion around round 10 or so.

Jesse “Bam” Rodríguez vs. Fernando Martínez

As talented as Martínez is, it is difficult to find fighters as good as Rodríguez. “Bam” has repeatedly amazed audiences with his skillset and he should do so once again. Martínez’s experience may help him to take the fight into the later rounds, but expect Rodríguez to get the stoppage within 10 rounds.

Abdullah Mason vs. Sam Noakes

Mason showed some defensive vulnerabilities against Yohan Vasquez that may be cause for concern going into this fight. Noakes has won 15 of his 17 bouts by stoppage, evidence that he possesses genuine knockout power. Given the stakes, however, it is likely that Mason will be a lot more defensively responsible against the Brit. Big Fight Weekend thinks the American has the tools to break down Noakes and eventually get the stoppage. Expect it to happen by round eight.

Full press conference

For the press conference in its entirety, click here or the play button below. Video courtesy of DAZN.