Anthony Yarde is confident he could beat unified light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev.
37-year-old Beterbiev became the IBF, WBC and WBO champion when he took the latter belt from Joe Smith Jr. with a second-round stoppage in New York on Saturday night.
Yarde is the WBO mandatory challenger at 175lbs meaning the Russian titlist could be ordered to make a fight with the Briton in the next few months.
30-year-old fighter Yarde was in attendance at Madison Square Garden to watch the fight, and after the clash he claimed he saw ways to defeat him.
“Beterbiev is a wrecking ball but I will be the breath of wind he cannot catch,” Yarde said, according to the Daily Mail.
“Yes, he is the best of the light-heavyweight champions now, but even in this brief fight I saw plenty of ways of beating him. I would be more afraid fighting a master boxer. This man has serious power but he's not as fast as I expected. This is a challenge I will relish.”
While Yarde’s promoter Frank Warren believes his fighter will get the nod for a title clash, Dmitry Bivol’s own promoter hopes that an undisputed match-up can be set up given Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez’s delay in confirming a rematch.