Teddy Atlas has put forward his predictions for David Benavidez vs Anthony Yarde and Brian Norman Jr vs Devin Haney, two of four world title fights taking place this Saturday.
The card, which will be headlined by Benavidez-Yarde in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, also features two further intriguing matchups in the form of Jesse Rodriguez vs Fernando Martinez and Abdullah Mason vs Sam Noakes.
As far as the main event is concerned, many believe that the explosive styles of Benavidez and Yarde are likely to steal the show.
Entering their light-heavyweight encounter as a sizeable favourite, Benavidez was upgraded from interim to full WBC champion shortly after Dmitry Bivol vacated his green and gold strap earlier this year. He is now chasing a fight with the Russian to unify.
Prior to that, the 28-year-old has claimed comprehensive points victories over David Morrell and Oleksandr Gvozdyk in his only two outings at 175lbs.
Yarde, meanwhile, has previously challenged for world honours on two occasions, losing to both Sergey Kovalev and Artur Beterbiev in 2019 and 2022, respectively.
In this particular clash with Benavidez, iconic trainer Atlas has opined on his YouTube channel that Yarde must get his man out of there in the early rounds, or else he risks being trapped beneath a heavy bombardment of artillery.
“With rain comes mud. And the potential mud, with Benavidez, is, when he’s raining all those punches at you, sometimes he’s vulnerable.
“If you punch with him when he’s throwing, you can catch him. There are going to be spots, especially early, for the veteran and the good puncher – the strong, physical puncher – of Yarde… There’s going to be opportunities to catch and hurt Benavidez.
“Benavidez has a good chin, great heart, but there will be opportunities [for Yarde] to do that.
“[If it goes late], I think Benavidez, if he gets his way with the body work, the pressure, the volume, the bursts – he’ll wear down Yarde.
“At the end of the day, I like Benavidez to win [by stoppage in under nine-and-a-half rounds].”
As for the welterweight offering between WBO champion Norman and Haney, Atlas believes that the latter’s technical prowess could see him claim a convincing points victory over his aggressive opponent.
At the same time, though, he equally acknowledges that Norman carries enough firepower to end their scheduled 12-rounder at any given moment.
“Norman is the less experienced guy but very explosive, very talented. I think he’s going to go after Haney, [which] I think is going to give Haney a chance, style-wise, to be at his best – to be the old Haney, not the Haney that went in there with [Ryan] Garcia.
“It’s got to be the Haney that counterpunches; the Haney that makes you reach. If it’s that [version of] Haney, he wins a decision over Norman.
“[But] if Norman hurts him the way Garcia did, the night’s probably going to be over, because he’s a better finisher than Garcia.”
