I’ve been surrounded by guns and threatened with knives in the tough London streets…Beterbiev doesn’t scare me, Yarde says

ANTHONY YARDE is not afraid to take on Artur Beterbiev after he was confronted with guns on the streets of London.

The 31-year-old from Hackney grew up amid deprivation and crime, with his childhood home brushed into the shadows of the flashy Westfield shopping center in Stratford.

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Stabbings and robberies were commonplace until boxing helped lift the light heavyweight ace out of a dangerous environment.

But his life is in jeopardy again tonight as he takes on 18-0 WBC, IBF and WBO champ Beterbiev, who has beaten all his victims at range and is starving himself three days after a fight to to get as angry as possible.

Yarde has shown no sign of nervousness ahead of the showdown at Wembley, explaining that flying bullets are a lot scarier than fists.

After glaring at bearded caveman Beterbiev, 38, he revealed: “It’s different. We speak of fear and I fear no one.

“There isn’t a person in this world that I fear because of certain situations that I’ve been in and grew up in.

“I was approached by people with guns, I had a lot of guys around with knives trying to stab me and preparing to rob me.

“I’ve been in certain scary situations, your heart is beating and you can’t go outside because madness is going to happen. I get paid to fight – and I like to fight!

“It’s special for someone who’s from where I’m from. I’m here to seize the moment.”

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Brave Briton Callum Johnson was bludgeoned in four rounds by the Canada-based Chechen in 2018 and called a “pound-for-pound killer, one beast, one monster”.

The Bond villain accent, bearish hair and thirst for blood make Beterbiev a terrifying force.

But Yarde believes he has the chin and features to win this war of the whiskers.

Beneath a perfectly manicured mustache, he explained, “There’s no one on this planet who can have their record and do what they’ve done without having to worry.

“I’ve seen little clips of him, he did basic things very well. Of course he hits hard, but the little things he does he does well and he does them repeatedly.

“He has a good engine but at the same time he gets hit. I’m not a person to be left standing and beaten by. It is exciting.

“I admit he has a better beard than me. I can’t grow a beard like that. I have to trim and groom myself before the fight.”

Yarde is the 6-1 longshot, and even his die-hard fans only give him one punching chance.

But he refuses to address the enormity of the task ahead – and will only look back at beating up Beterbiev and the bookies once he’s secured the belts.

He said: “I didn’t look at the odds. There are certain things I don’t pay attention to, it can distract you, it can take your focus, it can cause you to overcompensate.

“Someone can come and tell you things, but sometimes I’m a bit dismissive.

“I’m like, ‘ah, keep it to yourself, I don’t care.’ I’d rather find out after the fight.

“You can hear something and it will play in your head. It’s just human nature, but certain things don’t matter.

“For me, it only matters if we both get in the ring, the bell rings, rings, rings and we start flapping. Nothing else matters.”