Anthony Yarde Outpoints Ralfs Vilcans Over Ten Rounds; Michael McKinson, Shannon Courtenay Suffer Upset Defeats

Given some of the undercard results, Anthony Yarde will gladly settle for a win today and to look good the next time.

The former two-time title challenger earned his third straight victory a ten-round decision over Ralfs Vilcans. Referee Victor Loughlin scored the bout for Yarde in their light heavyweight bout Saturday from Copper Box Arena in Hackney Wick, London.

Yarde (26-3, 24 knockouts) went the distance for just the third time in his career. It came after the threat of an early knockout surfaced.

The home-grown 33-year-old, who was born in Hackney, floored Latvia’s Vilcans (17-2, 7 KOs) with a right hand ten seconds into the night. Vilcans quickly recovered and proceeded to cause all sorts of fits for Yarde.

Yarde, The Ring’s No. 4-rated light heavyweight, sought to turn things around early in the sixth. He shook off a shot upstairs to connect with a left hook to the body. Vilcans took the shot well and stood his ground versus Yarde, who picked his spots in absence of an explosive offense.

Vilcans fought off the back foot in an effort to draw in Yarde. He then worked his way inside but failed to do more than provide a durable target.

Yarde went all the way back to basics in the tenth and final round. A conscious decision was made in his corner to simply box rather than waste energy on a knockout that wasn’t there. Yarde fought behind the jab and controlled the tempo over the final three minutes, though the win was already secured by that point.

“Usually when I hit someone, the fight is done. I think the worst thing that could have happened to me was dropping him in the first round.  In the last round, I went ahead and boxed.”

The question now is, who’s next.

Yarde suffered title fight defeats to Sergey Kovalev in 2019 and Artur Beterbiev last January. Beterbiev (22-0, 21 KOs)—now The Ring/undisputed 175-pound champion—trailed on two of the three cards before he stopped the Brit in the eighth round.

“I’ll fight anybody. Styles make fights. I’ve fought at the top of the mountain. Who is put in front of you usually brings out the best in you.”

At the very least, Yarde can say he avoided an upset.

The same was not the case for Michael McKinson and Shannon Courtenay, both of whom left the arena empty-handed.

McKinson (26-2, 4 KOs) was outworked by South Africa’s Tulani Mbenge in their twelve-round welterweight fight.

Mbenge (21-2, 15 KOs) overcame a cut over his left eye to prevail by scores of 116-112, 116-112 and 117-111. The win was his second straight after a narrow defeat to 2016 Olympic Silver medalist Souleymane Cissokho nearly two years ago.

The loss snapped a four-fight win streak for McKinson following his Aug. 2022 knockout defeat to Vergil Ortiz in the U.S.

Courtenay’s career is now on the ropes after a stunning defeat to hand-picked Catherine Tacone. Their six-round featherweight bout saw Brazil’s Tacone (6-3-1, 0 KOs) win 58-56 on the scorecard of Bernard Oyet.

It was the second loss in three fights for Courtenay (8-3, 3 KOs), a former WBA bantamweight titlist. All three career defeats have come in her last six starts.

All three bouts aired live on Peacock+ in the U.S. and Sky Sports in the U.K. They came in support of the Adam Azim-Ohara Davies junior welterweight crossroads bout.

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