Injury rules Ricky out of battle with Yarde

Ricky Summers….English champ “gutted” the fight is off

RICKY Summers is out of this month’s big fight with Anthony Yarde.

The English light-heavyweight champ was to have faced Yarde on the undercard of Joe Joyce’s rematch with Zhilei Zhang at Wembley Arena on September 23.

But today, Ricky confirmed the bout was off.

The 36-year-old told me: “I got injured last week, I’m gutted.”

That’s a big payday gone west, but rumours swirl on social media of a possible future all Black Country clash with Olympic hero Ben Whittaker, now emerging as a professional superstar.

Few saw Summers – one of the game’s true nice guys –  beating menacing Yarde.

Last time out, Yarde fought valiantly against concussive punching world champ Artur Beterbiev. In a thriller, he hurt Beterbiev in the fifth before being pulled out in the eighth.

In defeat, his stock soared.

He also emerged with credit from his 2019 clash with WBO champ Sergey Kovalev. Yarde had the Russian in dire straits in the eight before being despatched in the 11th.

His trainer Ajayi told International Boxing News: “People who are criticising (the Summers bout) ain’t boxers, they ain’t trainers. Life is polarity, it’s just life, so I never listen to things like that.

“When people say he (Yarde) is dropping down, who has he just fought? He’s just fought another monster with a perfect KO record. Although the fight was in January, in my opinion it was one of the fights of the year.

“You don’t throw Anthony Yarde in every fight, not in my book as a trainer. You use a fight to gauge where your fighter is. Ricky Summers is solid, he’s never been stopped, he lost on a split to a British, Commonwealth and European champion.

“It’s a good fight, while it lasts it’s a good fight.”

Ricky has proved his mettle against Britain’s best.

The 36-year-old beat Joel McIntyre for the English belt, pushed current European king Dan Azeez to a split decision and has consistently shown he can compete at the highest domestic level.

He has, in a long career, earned a major payday on a major show.