FRANK WARREN never considered putting Anthony Yarde in against Callum Smith in Saudi as he plots to secure the highly anticipated Joshua Buatsi fight instead.
Yarde moved to 25-3 (24) on Saturday night when he disposed of Marko Nikolic at the Copper Box and was joined by fellow Londoner Buatsi in his post-fight interview.
Boxing News revealed last week that talks to match the pair this summer started well before Saturday night and negotiations have ramped up since Yarde’s third-round victory on the Olympic Park.
Now Yarde’s promoter Warren has provided an update on the situation and insisted there are no plans for Yarde to feature on the June 1 card which will match five of his Queensberry fighters against their Matchroom counterparts.
That 5 vs 5 event will take place on the undercard of Artur Beterbiev’s undisputed clash with Dmitrii Bivol on June and now Warren has revealed that Yarde and Buatsi – two of the world’s other leading light-heavyweight – might even meet before that date.
Warren said: “They both want it and we’ve been talking about it so now we have to get it over the line. It will be in the summer.
“People thought Yarde would fight Smith in Saudi but no. I haven’t thought that. We haven’t even talked – us – in-house yet about who we’re going to put in there.
“He’s out of that because this [Buatsi] is the fight we all want to do and the fight everybody wants to see.
“This fight might happen before Beterbiev-Bivol. First we have to get the deal done. It definitely will not end up on the undercard in Saudi.”
Yarde has suggested that he and Buatsi might wait until there is a world title on the line before setting up a domestic showdown six years in the making.
That would require waiting until the winner of Beterbiev-Bivol is confirmed and then hoping that one of the belts becomes vacant.
But Warren said: “Why are the belts going to fragment? There’s no mandatories due.
“I don’t even want to complicate that. All I want is to let the fighters get on with their fight. June 1 – they might have a rematch, who knows? – in the meantime get the good fights on. What are you hanging around for? Let’s find out who’s the best in Britain.”
Now it is down to Queensberry and Buatsi’s promoters Boxxer to come to an agreement on the fight. Yarde boxes on TNT Sport while Buatsi fights on Sky so discussions could centre around that.
Warren added: “It’s what negotiations are all about. That’s what it is. Why would anyone want to stand in the way of that fight happening? I don’t care where it takes place.”
It was suggested that a fight like this might end up on both TNT and Sky but the Hall of Fame promoter said: “I don’t want to go there yet, let’s make the fight. It may be a stumbling block, it may not. Let’s see what happens and see what the money is. Listen, these guys are fighting for money and if the money is right, that’s it.”
