Heavyweight contender Jared Anderson (16-0, 15 KOs) will fight a still-to-be-determined opponent in the main event on April 13th in a Top Rank-promoted card on ESPN at the American Banks Center in Corpus Christi, Texas.
It should be interesting to see who Bob Arum finds for the 6’4″ Anderson to fight. Hopefully, it’s a quality opponent that can give him some rounds, considering he’s now showing signs of improving, and that’s worrisome.
You can only baby a fighter so much before you finally have to put them in the deep end to see if they can swim with the sharks.
Luis Ortiz Out of the Picture
Dan Rafael is reporting the 24-year-old Anderson is returning to action after his fifth-round blowout of Andriy Rudenko last August. Top Rank wanted 44-year-old Luis Ortiz for Anderson to fight, but he priced himself out by asking for $2 million.
‘King Kong’ Ortiz is turning 45 years old in March, and it’s unclear what Anderson would have gotten from that fight. In Anderson’s last two fights, he’s beaten a couple of older fighters, 40-year-old Rudenko and 37-year-old Charles Martin.
Maybe Anderson made the mistake of coming out of the amateur ranks a little too early, as he would have gained more experience against better opposition if he’d waited a few more years and turned pro at 24 or 25 rather than 19.
He’s wasting time by fighting lower-level opposition that won’t help him nearly as much as the opponents he would have faced in the amateur ranks.
Focus on Younger Contenders
They need to start matching Anderson up with younger fighters to see if he will pan out in the pro ranks. The former IBF champion Charles Martin had Anderson hurt twice in their fight last July.
One of the instances came in the final ten seconds of the fight when Anderson began celebrating early, raising his hands to showboat. Martin took issue with that classless move, closed the distance, and staggered Anderson with a left to the head while he was in mid-celebration.
Top Rank needs to get one of these heavyweights for Jared Anderson’s April 13th headliner on ESPN:
- Andy Ruiz
- Efe Ajagba
- Bakhodir Jalolov
- Joe Joyce
- Martin Bakole
- Fabio Wardley
- Agit Kabayel
- Arslanbek Makhmudov
- Daniel Dubois
- Ivan Dychko
