Lyndon Arthur v Anthony Yarde Prediction, Tips & Offers

Lyndon Arthur defeated Anthony Yarde in the first fight for what was a clear controversial win for the Manchester man, and it did seem as if there were more gasps of a shock than cheers for him when the decision was announced that he had snatched a split decision.

There is still an argument that he won the fight on points, but Yarde has a right to complain and argue his side of things as it didn't look that convincingly from the judges' scorecards either as they were scored 115-114, 115-114 and 111-117. Arthur left with 345 points compared to Yarde's 342, but the controversy lies within the fact that one judge scored it with a six-point difference to the other two in favour of another fighter, which means he had Arthur winning 50% of the 12 rounds because there were no knockdowns so, therefore, no 10-8 rounds.

Regardless, the two throwdown once again following the controversy and the route to victory for the 30-year-old Mancunian is not likely to change this time around with his jab being his most dominant weapon anyhow. It was released that Arthur also injured his right hand in the lead up to the fight and thus utilized his jab more, but even if that was the case, no doubt it is his best method to victory.

This fight was also only the second time the Manchester-born had gone past six rounds as Tayar Mehmed took him the furthest into the fifth, before he met with Emmanuel Anim and Dec Spelman where he won via a unanimous decision in each.

In fact, in Arthur's last four fights, he has fought 45 rounds out of a total of 48, only not going the final three in his most recent bout with David Faraci. In this match, he did win most rounds and eventually put away the Italian after too many punches came his way, but it was far from convincing and given Yarde's vengeance here, Arthur is going to need to be careful, work behind that jab even more and head for a points win, and if a TKO/KO opportunity comes, he must take it. However, priority has to be on winning rounds again.

In the first fight, there was plenty of evidence to suggest that Yarde could win this fight via TKO/KO or on points having gone into the latter rounds with the likes of Dariusz Sęk, Tony Averlant, and Dec Spelman, while Arthur himself only had four wins go the distance prior to the first bout.

It didn't look as if Yarde was attempting to head for the knockout in the first fight too. The London man was very happy to sit there and work behind his jab to set up combinations that won him plenty of rounds, but should he have put the pressure on him a little earlier and more often, "The Beast from the East" probably could have totted up the rounds more convincingly and not left it to the judges' scorecards.

Yarde, prior to facing Arthur, had only gone the distance once as he beat Latvian, Stanislavs Makarenko, in his second professional bout. Following this, 13 TKO victories would follow before losing to Sergey Kovalev, before adding two more TKO wins after the defeat meaning Yarde now boasts a phenomenal 20 of his 21 wins via TKO/KO in the professional ranks with two RTD wins in there and two KOs too. With this in mind, surely the 30-year-old has to revert back to type and go for the knockout to avoid Arthur getting behind his jab and doing what he does better than many Brits on the circuit: jab your head off.

It can be argued, and perhaps more so than in Arthur's case, that Yarde actually won the fight on points anyhow, and it was by no stretch of the imagination a convincing win for the Manchester man. Ultimately, the Londoner did win the fight in the eyes of many. Nevertheless, with a controversial win in the first and a fight uncharacteristically going the distance in Yarde's case, he needs to go for a TKO/KO and get number 20 on his CV in this regard.

It really is set to be close fight and we don't see a scenario where it's controversial again. Yarde is likely to forget about the judges' scorecards and head for the knockout, while Arthur proved in his most recent bout with Davide Faraci that he didn't exactly do that well to sell tickets for this bout in regards to knockout power, as it took nine rounds to get rid of the Italian when he looked spent by the fourth.

We're heading for a Yarde KO. The Londoner can be absolutely ruthless when he wants, as proven by his many TKO/KOs inside three rounds, and he even proved in his bout with Kovalev two years ago that he can swing it with the best and have success. At the same time, Arthur didn't convince us enough that he can take out such a big hitter in Yarde following the late KO over Faraci.

We're backing the London man to get the job done inside eight rounds.