By Brian Webber: Jared Anderson (16-0, 15 KOs) got a solid win under his belt, stopping Andriy Rudenko (35-7, 21 KOs) in the fifth round with a blistering body attack that saw the referee step in and wave it off on Saturday night at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Tulsa.
Rudenko was a sitting duck all night, getting worked over by Jared like a punching back in this showcase fight on ESPN. Anderson looked good throughout, but he had the perfect opponent because this guy has no power or speed to keep him honest.
Jarred will reportedly be back in the ring in November or December. There’s no word yet, but it’s likely a small step up from Rudenko.
Unfortunately for Anderson, Zhan Kossobutskiy was beaten tonight by Efe Ajagba because that’s a guy that Top Rank wanted to match him against.
It’s fair to say they won’t chance it by putting Anderson in with Ajagba or Bakhodir Jalolov (13-0, 13 KOs) because he’s not ready for those kinds of guys. Jared is one of those types of fighters that needs to be protected. Top Rank will likely continue to match Anderson for as long as possible carefully.
He can be a Gervonta Davis-type star if Top Rank can keep him away from the sharks in the heavyweight division that would expose him as a manufactured-type fighter.
Anderson showed a lot of improvement from his previous fight against Charles Martin from a month ago. He’s been working hard with his trainer to fix the flaws in his game that Martin exposed.
Although the 23-year-old Jared’s voice took on a defiant tone when talking about how won’t change for the fans, he did without admitting it. Anderson has got a lot of growing up to do.
He didn’t use the pull-back move nearly as often tonight as he had in his previous fight and was more willing to stand in the pocket and brawl with Rudenko. Of course, a lot of that had to do with Rudenko’s lack of power, slow hand speed, and advanced age.
If Anderson had been in the ring with a puncher like Deontay Wilder or Anthony Joshua, he’d have been running around the ring like he’d done against Martin.
Punch stats:
Jared Anderson: 141 of 279 for 51% connect percentage.
Andriy Rudenko: 38 of 186 for 20% connect percentage.
Andriy Rudenko: “My opponent was very tough, and if he continues like that, we will see him at the top in the nearest future,” said Rudenko to ESPN about Jared Anderson after his fifth round knockout loss on Saturday night.
“I didn’t have my coach or my sparring partners for preparation for this fight. Anderson has very good conditioning and is in very good shape. He’s really like an American boxer and an American style because the majority of my opponents were from Europe with a European style.
“Anderson is a really good prospect with the real American boxing style.”
Joe Tessitore: “Jared committed to it right away. He looked at the body of Rudenko and saw the high guard. He said, ‘This is where I’m going to attack,’ and that’s where he went.”
Tim Bradley: “He was poised tonight. I knew Jared Anderson was going to have his way with Rudenko, but I wasn’t sure how he was going to attack Rudenko. But obviously, he had a plan, and he executed his game plan.
“His game plan was to break him down to the body. Slowly soften him up over the course as much as he possibly can to get him to cough up a victory. Once he stepped on the gas and changed the temp, that’s when things got going for him.”
Mark Kriegel: “You heard Rudenko say ‘American boxer with an American style.’ When was the last time you heard that about a heavyweight? What he’s really talking about is a certain type of athleticism that used to be customary in the heavyweight division that hasn’t been for many years.
“Deontay Wilder was an anomaly. This guy is back to the future. This guy is precise, really athletically gifted, and very, very, very heavy-handed.”
Bradley: “You’re absolutely right. You said ‘back in the future.’ Back in the days when you had heavyweights that were homegrown, just like this young man brought up in the gyms from an early age and brought up the ranks and going to the Olympics.
“They had athleticism, they had skills, they had charisma. They had a lot going for them. They had character.”
Kriegel: “The last guy I really think of is Riddick Bowe. That gifted, that big. Holyfield was a little bit different in terms of style. Holyfield, to me, got by on guts. But in terms of that really gifted, athletic style, Riddick Bowe. This guy [Jared Anderson] can go where he wants. The question is, can he get there fast enough?”
Tessitore: “The reason why for you guys saying, ‘How can you guys skip over Deontay Wilder?” Deontay Wilder was a late bloomer to the game. He was an anomaly. He was a late bloomer to the game. He was in financial straight and was in another sport.
“He just happened to be God-gifted with one of the greatest gifts that anyone has ever had in the history of the sport, and that’s a right hand that could blast through a brick wall.
“This is different. This is someone who has the amateur pedigree, the total athleticism, and the total package. You don’t see body punch numbers like this, especially in this division when 51% of your connects are to the body and 72 body punches, and this wasn’t given five full rounds.”
Bernardo Ouna: “It was ridiculous. Do you know what it brings me back to? Adjustments. We got to give Jared Anderson so much credit for working on the defense. Just know what the weaknesses of Rudenko were. Today was all about body shots. Whether it was blow blows for Usyk and the low blows we saw in the fight before when Kossobutskiy was disqualified.
“The way that Jared Anderson focused on that bodywork. It’s one thing to focus and another thing to commit the way he did because the body of Rudenko was showing just how effective Anderson was being.”
Tessitore: “Jared Anderson moves forward to 16-0 with 14 knockouts. Obviously, the heavyweight division top heavy with the top two guys, Tyson Fury with the lineal champion and the WBC champion. Then Oleksandr Usyk, that is the unified.
“Jared Anderson is at #7. Once we get done with Fury & Ngannou, can we just have the common sense decision to do Fury & Usyk?