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Anthony Yarde’s first fight since losing to Lyndon Arthur last year lasted less than a round as he dropped Alex Theran twice before the Colombian was counted out in Birmingham.
Yarde had been promised a fight before his Commonwealth light-heavyweight title rematch with Arthur and, after a fight with Emin Atra was called off at the last minute in June, Theran offered very little resistance.
It was the same shot – a left hook to the body – that dropped Theran twice. The first time he beat the count by about half a second, the second time there was no chance of him getting up. The official time was 2:32.
Yarde’s rematch with Arthur has been pencilled in for October 9. The last time, Arthur won a split decision, after Yarde failed to open up until the last couple of rounds. He says he has learnt from that and is promising a different result when they meet again.
“It was a shot we have been working on in training camp, this was about staying focused,” the former WBO title challenger said.
“This wasn’t really preparation for Lyndon Arthur. I wanted the rematch immediately but now it is happening in October.”
Yarde extended his record to 21-2 with 20 stoppages.
Teenage welterweight George Bance is now 2-0 after winning every round against Matt Hall. Bance attacked almost exclusively to the body in the first two rounds and, while he was warned for going low, it was nearly all one-way traffic, with Hall reduced to just trying to smother Bance’s work. Referee Christopher Dean scored it 40-36.
Also extending unbeaten records on the undercard were super-lightweight Eithan James, who was a 60-54 points winner over Matar Sambou to go to 6-0, and light-heavyweight Ezra Taylor, who moved to 2-0 with a 40-36 points win over Darryl Sharp.