A logical fight to be made by Top Rank after last Saturday’s card in Toledo would be their prized heavyweight Jared Anderson (15-0, 14 KOs) against #5 WBA, #5 WBC Arslanbek Makhmudov (17-0, 16 KOs).
Promoter Bob Arum needs a highly-ranked contender for the ultra-confident Anderson to fight next to continue his seasoning to get him ready to fight the upper-level guys like Oleksandr Usyk, Anthony Joshua & Deontay Wilder.
What we saw last Saturday is that Jared Anderson can’t punch when he’s going backward, and he pulls back when he’s being attacked.
Jared does this every single time, leaving himself vulnerable to being chased down and nailed while retreating.
A fighter like Makhmudov, who thrives on chasing down his prey, would enjoy success against Anderson, and he could knock him out early as he did against Raphael Akpejiori.
It will be surprising if Arum chooses to match Anderson against the pressure fighter Makhmudov next because the Toledo native was hurt many times by a lesser puncher Charles Martin last Saturday night.
With that said, Arum will have to take risks with Jared because he’s stated that he plans to get out of boxing by the age of 27 in four years.
That means Arum can’t afford to put Anderson in with soft competition because he’s not going to get moved up the rankings fast enough, and more importantly, he won’t improve his game to the point where he’s ready to take on the A-level heavyweights.
Makhmudov is the ideal opponent for Anderson to fight next on August 26th because he’s got a high ranking, unbeaten record, and a lot of boxing fans are high on him after watching him dismantle Raphael Akpejiori (15-1, 14 KOs) in a second round knockout on the undercard of Jared’s fight against Charles Martin at the Huntington Center in Toledo.
Makhmudov & Anderson fighting on the same card last Saturday night got many boxing fans excited at seeing them square off next. Would Top Rank boss Arum give Jared the green light to take this fight against Makhmudov?
The way that Anderson retreats when attacked would put him at risk of getting knocked out by Makhmudov because he would chase him and eventually catch up to the Ohio native to unload his chopping shots at close range.
Where Anderson would be at a significant disadvantage is on the inside. He can’t punch from close range, and that’s where Makhmudov is very dangerous.
All the clinching that we saw Jared do against the 37-year-old Charles Martin last Saturday night would network to try and keep Makhmudov off of him to neutralize his offense.
If Anderson employs holding as his main line of defense against Makhmudov, he’s going to get chopped apart with punches at point-blank range to the head.
