By Allan Fox: Jared Anderson did what he had to for him to defeat the dangerous former IBF heavyweight champion Charles Martin by a decisive 10-round unanimous decision last Saturday night in front of a large crowd at the Huntington Center in Toledo.
Anderson (15-0, 14 KOs) looked good on offense, reminding some of a bigger version of Shakur Stevenson and looking sharp in showing skills that haven’t been seen from heavyweights of this era.
The question now is who should the 23-year-old Jared Anderson fight next. ESPN’s Christina Poncher said Top Rank promoter Bob Arum is planning on matching Jared against Zhan Kossobutskiy, but that remains to be seen.
Jared Anderson needs a step-up
There’s from boxing fans in seeing Jared tested against one of these heavyweights in his next fight:
- Frank Sanchez
- Arslanbek Makhmudov
- Efe Ajagba
- Andy Ruiz Jr
It’s unlikely that Top Rank would be able to get former IBF, WBA & WBO heavyweight champion Andy Ruiz Jr. to agree to a fight with Jared Anderson because he would likely want the type of money that he was paid when he fought Anthony Joshua in 2019 and unrealistic.
“I was just focused on staying sharp and keeping my head in the game, so I didn’t get knocked out myself,” said Jared Anderson last Saturday night, giving his thoughts to the press about his win victory over Charles Martin.
“Win or lose, there’s going to be critics. Good or bad, there’s going to be critics. I’ ‘m just going to keep living my life. I don’t care what nobody says. I don’t read comments no more,” said Anderson.
Boxing fans were disappointed in what they saw of Jared Anderson against the 37-year-old Charles Martin because, with all the hype about him going into the bout on how he’s the next heavyweight star in the U.S., he looked like a run-of-the-mill type fighter.
Tim Bradley: “Look, he fought at home in front of the pressure under these circumstances. When I looked up and saw all these fans in here cheering him on, the fight and the performance that he put on, getting hurt, bouncing back, making adjustments, a star was born tonight. That’s what I saw—a star in Jared Anderson.
“Moving forward, I wish he could fight again. He entertained me so much tonight. Look at the tears right there. I don’t know what’s going on with Jared,” said Bradley about Anderson needing to be consoled by his mother after the fight.
“It could be the overwhelming moment,” said Bernardo Osuna, trying to make sense of Anderson breaking down after the fight with Charles Martin.
“I don’t know if he’s crying or not,” said Christina Poncher.
“I’m going to tell you. After a fight, it feels like a huge weight off your back. That’s what he’s feeling right there,” said Bradley.
“This was an extraordinarily emotional week on any number of those levels, going back to that feature,” said Mark Kriegel, talking about Jared Anderson’s feature on ESPN with Roy Jones Jr.” It probably ended the way it should have with him ending in his mother’s arms.
“I want to go back to the crucial moment that could possibly change him and change the division is what happened between the fifth and sixth rounds. A lesser guy would have fallen. He’s [Anderson] not accustomed to getting beaten like that, getting hit like that, and he stood up to a bigger guy.
“He came back. However, you saw the sixth round. He went back to his craft. The most basic, the most important punch in boxing. He won with the jab,” said Kriegel.
“Listen, all the Ohio fighters on the card tonight, y’all did that,” said Andre Ward. “The crowd here in Toledo, y’all did that. You showed up in a major, major way, and to Jared Anderson, you did that. You exceeded expectations on every level.
“There’s always going to be questions, always swirling. ‘He did this, but what about that?’ Until next time, he’s answered every question that was asked of him tonight. Man, enjoy your victory. Enjoy your time with your family. You earned it,” said Ward about Jared.
“I think we saw what we expected from Makhmudov and Abdullah Mason. I thought they looked really good tonight, and I think we got the rounds we wanted to see and got some questions answered about Jared Anderson,” said Poncher.
“One of the biggest questions could he take a punch? Could he have the steam to go into the later rounds? Check and check. He answered both of those questions tonight, and now we’ll see how he can handle the skill set of some of the top ten heavyweights, which looks to be a little far out from where we are right now.
“Nonetheless, I think he got a huge step forward with his career tonight by getting these rounds in the bank. There’s no substitute for experience,” said Poncher about Jared.
