Frank Warren is certain Artur Beterbiev and Anthony Yarde won’t go 12 rounds Saturday night in London.

Yarde’s promoter is less convinced that most oddsmakers got it right when they established Beterbiev as a 9-1 favorite to beat his contender in their fight for Beterbiev’s IBF, WBC and WBO light heavyweight titles. Warren naturally considers Yarde a live underdog against the Russian knockout artist.

The founder of Queensberry Promotions pointed out that Yarde is just as capable of knocking Beterbiev to the canvas as Callum Johnson, who dropped the Quebec-based champion in the second round of their October 2018 bout at Wintrust Arena in Chicago. Warren considers Yarde a harder puncher than England’s Johnson, whom Beterbiev dropped and stopped in the fourth round.

Warren didn’t downplay Beterbiev’s power during an interview that appeared on BT Sport Boxing’s YouTube channel, though. He fully understands that Yarde will face a destructive puncher in their main event at OVO Arena Wembley.

“Look, we know what he is,” Warren said of Beterbiev. “He is a monster. He is a monster. But our guy is, too. And if he catches you, you go. We know he got put on the floor by Callum Johnson, so you know he can be caught … And Callum’s a big puncher, but I think our guy is a more powerful puncher.”

The 38-year-old Beterbiev (18-0, 18 KOs) and the 31-year-old Yarde (23-2, 22 KOs) have a combined knockout ratio of 93 percent. Yarde, of Ilford, England, avenged his 12-round split-decision defeat to British rival Lyndon Arthur (21-1, 15 KOs) by fourth-round knockout and badly hurt former WBO light heavyweight champ Sergey Kovalev (35-4-1, 29 KOs) in the eighth round of a bout Kovalev eventually won by 11th-round technical knockout.

Yarde’s improvement since his loss to Russia’s Kovalev in August 2019 makes Warren confident that his fighter is capable of pulling off an upset of one of the best boxers, pound-for-pound, in the sport.

“He’s a wrecking machine,” Warren said. “I mean, he’s got the most perfect record of any fighter in boxing, a champion in boxing, at the moment. And it is a tough fight for our man, but I think Anthony, I really do think it may be his moment. He’s very confident. He can punch, he can box, Anthony, we’ve seen that. And I think he’s got more experience now. And I genuinely feel that he can upset the odds.”

Beterbiev-Yarde will air as the main event of a card BT Sport 1 will televise in the United Kingdom and Ireland (7 p.m. GMT). ESPN+ will stream Beterbiev-Yarde and part of its undercard in the United States (3:30 p.m. ET; 12:30 p.m. PT).

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.