Heavyweight contender Jared Anderson is making a quick return to the ring after fighting last month for his ten round bout against the capable veteran Andriy Rudenko this Saturday, August 26th, at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tulsa.
Top Rank wants to quickly develop the 23-year-old Anderson, knowing that the top guys, Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua, Oleksandr Usyk, and Deontay Wilder, are getting long in the tooth and will likely retire within two to three years.
If they don’t get as many fights under Jared’s before those fighters walk away, he won’t be ready to capture some of the titles. Even if Anderson is ready, he’ll need to be matched carefully by Top Rank because he’s got a chin problem.
Anderson was almost knocked out in his last fight against old timer Charles Martin last July. Hence, Top Rank are putting Jared in with the 39-year-old Rudenko, who isn’t a big puncher and he’s old and well past his prime.
The Anderson vs. Rudenko card this Saturday begins at 10:30 p.m. ET/7:30 p.m. PT. on ESPN, ESPN Deportes and ESPN+.
In the co-feature bout, heavyweight fringe contender Efe Ajagba fights Zhan Kossobutskiy in a 10 round fight.
This match-up should be in the main event because it’s a far more competitive fight on paper, and Ajagba is a more exciting fighter than Jared Anderson, who is more of a safety-first type of heavyweight.
Jared Anderson
“This Saturday, you will see me sticking to my plan. I’ll be using my jab, my speed. I’m always willing to do whatever I need to do in order to win.”
Andriy Rudenko
“I know that my opponent is one of the best heavyweight prospects right now. I will show you what my plans are for stopping him this Saturday in the ring.”
“I’m a big fan of Jared Anderson and, in fact, I had Jared in my gym sparring when he was still an amateur, and so we’ve had a relationship,” said trainer Kevin Barry to Slothboxx.
“I wasn’t training him, but he was working in my gym with his trainers, and I like him as a person. I love him as a fighter I think he’s he’s an exciting prospect, and it’s a guy that I know Bob Arum is very, very hot on it.
“At the age of 23, he’s fought 15 times with 14 knockouts. The first fight to go the distance was his last fight against the southpaw Charles Martin.
“The southpaw style is very difficult for a lot of the guys, and I think we saw that in Jared Anderson’s last fight against Charles Martin. He got buzzed in the fifth round and the tenth round and the fight went the distance for the first time.
“Here he is now, eight weeks after that, Charles Martin, right back in the ring again, the fourth time in nine months and the second time in eight weeks, fighting a fighter who, on paper, has seen his best days but a fighter who was at one stage one of the most durable and resilient fighters in the heavyweight division.
“This is a fighter who’s had over 40 professional fights, but he’s now 39 years old. Rudenko is a veteran of 16 years, and he’s also 16 years older than Jared Anderson.
“He’s gone the distance with guys like Zhliei Zhang and Alexander Povetkin, two big punchers that he was able to take the distance. So we know he’s durable.
“He’s only once ever been stopped in 41 professional fights, and there was a couple of years ago against a dangerous up-and-coming prospect.
“So, on paper, this is a perfect opponent on an eight-week rest for Jared Anderson. The bookmakers have him a very heavy favorite. He’s like 30 to 1 favorite in this fight
The exciting thing for me is. Here he is, this young man at the age of 23 who’s on a very, very fast route to the top. He’s ranked in all the organizations.
“I think the WBC has him at seven, the WBA has him at seven, the IBF 15, and the WBO have him at five.
“So here’s a guy that’s already well up into the rankings, a guy that I expect to see fighting some really big fights over the next couple of years, a fighter who’s improving all the time, and I think that last fight against Charles Martin, he would have in that fight going ten rounds, he probably learned more in that fight than any other fight in his career.
“This guy’s had ten knockouts inside the first two rounds. He’s very heavy-handed, and he throws a lot of punches. He is exciting for a heavyweight and exciting for the fans because Jared Anderson is going to come and throw.
“This is perfect; this is the right opponent for him. This is not a big challenge fighting Andriy Rudenko. Actually, in his last fight, when he fought Charles Martin, you may remember Martin came in as a late replacement.
“He was training for another fight, and Jared was actually supposed to fight Zhan Kossobutskiy, 19-0 18 Kos from Kazakhstan,” said Barry.
