Artur Beterbiev suffers injury, mandatory defense against Yarde postponed

An injury has forced Artur Beterbiev to likely take the rest of 2022 off.

FightNights.com has learned that the unified light heavyweight champion will not fight England's Anthony Yarde in October as originally planned. The WBO mandatory defense will now likely take place in early 2023.

According to IFL TV, Yarde (22-2, 21 KOs) is expected to take a stay-busy fight in November, while the 37-year-old Beterbiev will rest until his injury heals.

Beterbiev (18-0, 18 KOs) is coming off a second-round destruction of then-WBO titlist Joe Smith Jr. to add a third 175-pound title on June 18 at Madison Square Garden's Hulu Theater in New York City

Yarde was in attendance for the Top Rank on ESPN main event, as it was already penciled in that he would be the next in line to face the mighty Russian. However, he will have to wait a little while longer for his second career title shot.

The 31-year-old Yarde fought Sergey Kovalev for the WBO light heavyweight title in August 2019 but suffered an 11th-round knockout. Since that night, Yarde is 4-1 (5 KOs), including two consecutive wins.