Light heavyweight contender Anthony Yarde has one fight left on his Riyadh Season deal having lost a gruelling bout to David Benavidez last November.

Yarde, 34, was stopped by the heavy-handed Arizona-born star in the fourth loss of his 31-fight career, following defeats by Lyndon Arthur (twice avenged), Sergey Kovalev and Artur Beterbiev.

Yarde has speculated on social media that he might move up in weight.

“We’ve got another fight left, contracted with Turki Alalshikh and Riyadh Season,” said Yarde’s trainer Tunde Ajayi.

“I spoke to him yesterday. But, you know, he has that in mind and he's obviously taking care of his life and training at the same time.”

Asked how hard the Benavidez fight was, Ajayi admitted: “It was very, very [hard], as we know. Listen, I said it on talkSPORT the other day, the only way you know how good you are is facing the absolute best. And you get good fighters, great fighters and generational fighters. To me, of all the three world title contests that Ant has been up against and they are Hall of Famers. Benavidez, to me, in my opinion, is the best. I just think how he’s been brought up, the stuff he’s done, sparring with Kelly Pavlik. All these guys from [when Benavidez was] 13 years old… Gennady Golovkin. He was not a secret in boxing. Everyone knew. But Ant wanted to challenge himself against the best. And it is what it is. You know, no excuses. We’ve got to work harder.”

Benavidez, who defeated Yarde in seven punishing rounds, moves onto a May date in Las Vegas up at cruiserweight against WBA and WBO 200lbs champion Zurdo Ramirez, and the outcome of that is a foregone conclusion for Ajayi.

“Benavidez, one million per cent,” he said.

“I think everybody knows. Listen, Ant trod where Canelo, Bivol – I’m not too sure about Beterbiev – but what we do know is Canelo, Bivol, Callum Smith, Joshua Buatsi… The list goes on and on and it’s not the manager talking. Benavidez said it. These guys all refused to fight him. So we know that. And he [Benavidez] was sparring with Zudro for years. I think he [Benavidez] beats all of them.”

It has long been pointed out that Yarde, 27-4 (24 KOs), fights either top opponents or fighters not on his level. Ajayi contends that the latter, Yarde has dispatched in better fashion than his rivals.

“And when we do want those bridging fights [between journeymen and world level], the guys don’t want to fight us,” he explained. “Maybe now [after Benavidez], maybe. I mean, that’s just the way Ant’s career has gone. Maybe now that Ant has come up short again, maybe these guys will actually step up and fight him. But that’s the situation. It’s always been with Ant, we haven't had the option of fighting the guys that are usually the ones before the big fight. We’ve had to just go in and Ant has always taken that challenge.”