When is David Benavidez vs. Anthony Yarde?

David Benavidez vs. Anthony Yarde is on Saturday, November 22. The broadcast will begin at 2 p.m. Eastern Time (7 p.m. GMT). 

David Benavidez vs. Anthony Yarde is a pay-per-view available for purchase on DAZN.

Where is David Benavidez vs. Anthony Yarde?

The fight is taking place at ANB Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Who is David Benavidez?

Benavidez, 30-0 (24 KOs), is the WBC light heavyweight titleholder who also had two reigns at super middleweight.

Benavidez’s first run with the WBC belt ended because of a positive cocaine test taken while out of competition, and the second concluded when he came in overweight on the scales. Benavidez went on to become the WBC interim titleholder and waited in vain for a shot at Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. His best wins in the division came against Anthony Dirrell, Caleb Plant and Demetrius Andrade.

Giving up on the Canelo fight, and ready to give his body some relief on the scales, Benavidez arrived at light heavyweight about a year and a half ago. He defeated Oleksandr Gvozdyk to pick up the WBC’s interim belt at 175lbs, earning a shot at whomever sat on the throne after the first bout between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol. 

Beterbiev won but went straight into a rematch with Bivol, and so Benavidez took on David Morrell this past February, adding a secondary WBA belt. Bivol triumphed in the sequel with Beterbiev to become undisputed but vacated his WBC title. Benavidez has since been upgraded, and this bout against Yarde will be the first defense for the 28-year-old from Arizona.

Who is Anthony Yarde?

Yarde, 27-3 (24 KOs), is a two-time title challenger. You’ll note the phrasing. It might be tempting to dismiss Yarde given Benavidez’s formidable talents and those three defeats on the record of the 34-year-old from Ilford, England. After all, two of those losses came when Yarde stepped up against the top tier of light heavyweights. 

Yarde was taken out in the 11th round by Sergey Kovalev in 2019 and by Artur Beterbiev in eight rounds in 2023. But it’s important to recall that he was competitive at times in both bouts before being put away. Benavidez can’t (and likely won’t) take him lightly. Yarde’s other loss came in 2020, a split decision against Lyndon Arthur. Yarde twice avenged it, toppling Arthur in the fourth round in 2021 and taking a unanimous decision in their rubber match this past April.

What other fights are on the undercard of David Benavidez vs. Anthony Yarde?

The headline fight is far from the sole selling point for this pay-per-view. Benavidez-Yarde is supported by a junior bantamweight unification bout between Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez” and Fernando Martinez; Brian Norman Jnr defending his WBO welterweight title against Devin Haney; and lightweights Abdullah Mason and Sam Noakes competing for the vacant WBO belt.

Rodriguez, 22-0 (15 KOs), has been on a tear in his second stint at 115lbs. He knocked out Juan Francisco Estrada with a body shot for the WBC belt and Ring Magazine championship, summarily dismissed Pedro Guevara in three rounds, and then took out Phumelele Cafu in the 10th round this past July to add the WBO title.

That means three world titles and the Ring championship will be on the line against Martinez, who owns the WBA belt and a record of 18-0 (9 KOs). While Martinez hasn’t been getting the attention that Rodriguez has, he earned his spot with two wins over Jerwin Ancajas and a pair of victories over Kazuto Ioka.

(The IBF belt, which Martinez vacated ahead of the Ioka rematch, now belongs to Willibaldo Garcia, who will defend against Kenshiro Teraji on December 27.)

Norman, 28-0 (22 KOs), never got the unification bout he wanted with Jaron “Boots” Ennis and since has sought to make a name for himself, impressing with stoppage victories this year over Derrieck Cuevas and Jin Sasaki. 

In terms of talent, Haney represents a significant step up for Norman. But Haney, 32-0 (15 KOs), a former undisputed lightweight champion and junior welterweight titleholder, also has a lot to prove himself, and not just because he’s in his third weight division. Haney looked highly vulnerable while visiting the canvas three times against Ryan Garcia in April 2024, though that majority decision loss was rightly overturned given Garcia’s positive test for performance-enhancing drugs. And then Haney stunk out the joint while boxing his way to a decision over Jose Ramirez this past May.

Mason, 19-0 (17 KOs), was labeled the future of the lightweight division early on, though he had to get off the canvas twice a year ago to win a thrilling two-rounder with Yohan Vasquez. Plenty of other top talents had to get through scary moments and tough tests while young. Mason has steadied himself since and is coming off a five-round victory over gatekeeper Jeremia Nakathila.

Noakes, 17-0 (15 KOs), is moving into the deep end after things went swimmingly against lower levels of opposition. In recent outings, he nearly shut out the 29-4-2 Ryan Walsh and then won a third-round TKO over an injured 13-4-1 Patrik Balaz.

The full list of undercard fights can be seen on BoxRec.

David Greisman, who has covered boxing since 2004, is on Twitter @FightingWords2. David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” is available on Amazon.