David Benavidez vs Anthony Yarde prediction: American to stop Briton in Riyadh

The Ring IV event lands in Riyadh this weekend as eight of the world’s premier fighters contest four world titles in the Saudi capital.

David Benavidez and Anthony Yarde headline the stacked event, with the latter hoping to make it third time lucky in his hunt for a world championship titles after previous defeats to Russian fighters Sergey Kovalev and Artur Beterbiev.

The Briton has had a rather underwhelming spell since the latter loss at the start of 2023, and he faces a dangerous opponent this weekend in Benavidez. The American is one of boxing’s most explosive fighters, boasting a 30-0 record with 24 KOs, and betting sites have him as a 1/10 favourite versus odds of 6/1 for Yarde to emerge victorious.

Elsewhere, Yarde’s fellow Briton Sam Noakes challenges Abdullah Mason for the WBO lightweight title, while American Devin Haney attempts to become a three-weight world champion when he takes on Brian Norman Jr. for the WBO welterweight title.

That one is much harder to call, with boxing betting sites barely able to separate the two, though belt holder Norman Jr. is slight favourite at 20/21 versus Haney at 21/20.

34-year-old Anthony Yarde looks to become world champion at the third time of asking this weekend after losses to Kovalev and Beterbiev, and this fight could well be his last chance at landing that coveted title, though he has claimed he is “the best version of me” ahead of the bout.

The Londoner retains an impressive record of 27 wins from 30 contests, having demonstrated his good early starting and explosiveness on many occasions as he earned 24 knockout wins himself, including recent wins over Jorge Silva and Marko Nikolic.

However, his two most recent victories have seen the fights go the distance against Ralfs Vilcans and former IBO light-heavyweight title holder Lyndon Arthur last time out.

And this weekend presents an altogether different test for the Briton, against a fighter who is much younger – at just 28 – and overall ‘better’ than the likes of Vilcans and Arthur.

Benavidez is 30-0 across his professional career and has fought several solid fighters in recent bouts, beating the likes of Demetrius Andrade and Caleb Plant at super-middleweight – and winning and holding the interim WBC title – before moving up to light heavyweight and beating both Oleksandr Gvozdyk and David Morrell.

This is a fight between the slightly contrasting styles of Yarde’s fast starts and explosive power versus Benavidez’s pressure, work rate, stamina and combinations, with the American happy to wear down his opponents, especially in recent bouts. He can be hit when he comes in too straight and a big puncher like Yarde can land shots on him, but the bookies clearly think Yarde’s lack of stamina will work against him, with just two of his last eight fights going the distance.

Yarde tends to rely on the earlier KOs and if he is unable to get that, it feels likely that Benavidez will punish that, with the 28-year-old using his height and reach advantage to control the tempo and keep a suitable distance.

The American is just 8/13 to win via KO or TKO, so there is less value in that wager alone. However, it is worth noting that all of his last four fights have entered round six – with three of them going the distance – so we think a small bet builder of Benavidez to win via TKO or KO and the fight to go past 5.5 rounds makes sense.

David Benavidez vs Anthony Yarde prediction: David Benavidez to win via KO or TKO, Over 5.5 Total Rounds - 8/5 Bet365

The second biggest fight of the night comes at welterweight, where the undefeated Brian Norman Jr. defends his WBO title for the third time, this one against fellow undefeated American Devin Haney.

Norman has previously beaten Derrieck Cuevas and Jin Sasaki in successful defences since winning the vacant belt against Giovani Santillan in May 2024, while Haney beat Jose Ramirez via UD in May of this year in his first fight since his original loss to Ryan Garcia was ruled a no-contest.

The fight sees Haney move up to welterweight in his bid to become a three-weight world champion, and the jump up in division sees him takes his renowned technical skills into the ring against a fighter with plenty of raw knockout power in Norman.

Norman is known for his power, aggressiveness and ability to cause damage in few hits, and he’ll aim to pile on the pressure and physicality against his compatriot. Conversely, it is likely Haney will look to use his sharp footwork, timing and superior fight IQ to adapt to the challenge of Norman and attempt to neutralise his powerful offence.

Haney has to stay away from Norman’s biggest punches, as he failed to do against Garcia, but if he can avoid the biggest hits then he has route to a win here, with his ability to stay accurate and disciplined potentially allowing him to control large portions of the bout. He’ll need to use the jab to open the door to landing other clean hits to win over the judges, but he’s done that many times before.

If you wanted to go safe, you could wager on either fighter to win via unanimous decision at 6/5, but we think a wager on Haney to win via UD is better value.

Brian Norman Jr. vs Devin Haney prediction: Devin Haney to win via unanimous decision - 2/1 Ladbrokes

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Free bets and free spins are active for seven days.

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