Frank Warren says he will explore the possibility of making an explosive match-up between Anthony Yarde and Joe Smith Jr next.
Warren’s charge Yarde was pulled out by his corner in the eighth round after a gruelling, back-and-forth clash with unified WBC, IBF and WBO champion, Artur Beterbiev on Saturday in Wembley, who proved too strong in the end.
The Hall of Fame promoter is already considering the 31-year-old’s next move and has floated the idea of a potential meeting with former WBO titlist, Smith Jr who has not fought since losing his belt to Beterbiev in June.
Smith Jr is promoted by Bob Arum’s Top Rank Inc. and Warren has revealed that he will be speaking with Arum, who also promotes Beterbiev.
“I thought he done extremely well,” Warren told IFLTV.
“And had it been somebody else, another time, he’d be world champion.
“If he had been in there with Joe Smith, he would have been world champion.
“If it had been another champion, maybe a Joe Smith or somebody like that, I really would’ve fancied him to have won that fight and then gain more experience before you go up against someone like Beterbiev.
“But, he fought in a final eliminator with Lyndon Arthur and he done a job on him and that’s how he got the fight.
“He was determined to go through with it.”
Yarde fell short for the second time in a world title fight, having been stopped in 11 rounds by then-WBO titlist, Sergey Kovalev in Russia in 2019.
Smith Jr made one defence of his WBO crown before being wiped out in two rounds by Beterbiev, who could be in line to face WBC mandatory challenger, Callum Smith next.
“I’m gonna speak to Bob [Arum] about it,” Warren said.
“That would be a great fight to make, yeah. That would be a great fight. Listen, that’s my opinion.
“I’m sure his people have got, his management, they’ve got a different opinion.
“But that’d be a great fight to make.”
