David Benavidez stops Anthony Yarde in seven

Anthony Yarde third world title challenge thwarted by David Benavidez

Anthony Yarde (27-4, 24 KOs) suffered defeat in a world title fight for the third time in his career as he was stopped in the seventh round by David Benavidez (31-0, 25 KOs) in Riyadh.

The 34-year-old Londoner had previously been stopped by Russian monster Sergey Kovalev and KO king Artur Beterbiev at this level, and it was a case of deja vu as Mexican-American Benavidez left the Brit with a bloody nose in the sixth round before closing the contest out in the next.

Benavidez, who only stepped up to the light-heavyweight division last year, retained his WBC and WBA titles as he extended his perfect record to 31 fights, taking his KO ratio up to 80%

"I'm fantastic - he's a hell of a fighter," Yarde told BBC Radio 5Live after the fight. "I knew how he was going to come, at the end there he just caught me with a good shot on my nose.

"I thought it was competitive. He's got quick hands, he caught me first, hit me with a good shot on my nose."

Devin Haney claimed the WBO welterweight title by unanimous decision over American Brian Norman Jr.

Another Brit left Riyadh empty handed, as Maidstone's Sam Noakes failed to claim the vacant WBO world lightweight title, decisioned by American Abdullah Mason with scores of 115-113 x2, 117-111.

Jesse 'Bam' Rodriguez was on fine form, sharp as a tack, to KO Fernando Daniel Martinez in the 10th round of his unified super-flyweight title defence.

New Jersey's Vito Mielnicki Jr. claimed the vacant WBO Global middleweight title by stopping Nigerian Samuel Nmomah in the 10th round.