Heavyweight Jared Anderson (16-1, 14 KOs) wore down and stopped Andriy Rudenko (35-7, 21 KOs) in the fifth round in a showcase fight at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tulsa.
The referee decided he’d seen enough and stopped the fight in the fifth round after the 23-year-old Anderson unleashed a blizzard of punches against the 39-year-old Rudenko, who looked like he didn’t belong inside the ring with the much younger fighter.
The first couple of rounds were mildly entertaining as far as mismatches go. Rudenko was throwing punches back and catching the easy-to-hit Top Rank-promoted Anderson to the head.
After round two, Rudenko looked exhausted, and from there, each round, he looked increasingly more fatigued. Anderson took advantage of Rudenko’s nonexistent offense by teeing off on him with mostly body shots.
In the fifth, Rudenko got Anderson’s attention with a few halfway decent headshots that woke him up. Andersson then went all out and unloaded a storm of shots that caused the referee to step in and half the fight at 1:40 of round five.
After the fight, Anderson sounded like a person with a serious chip on his shoulder when interviewed by ESPN, saying this:
“As much as people want to hate on me for it, I’m a realist. I’m going to stay real and be real. And I’m going to say what’s on my mind. Ya’ll can take it how ya’ll want. This is a business. You can’t force me to be somebody ya’ll want me to be. I’m going to be myself.”
It’s unclear what Jared Anderson was talking about, as the only thing boxing fans have been saying about him is that he’s not that good and that Top Rank is wasting their time putting him in headliners instead of more talented fighters with the capability of winning world titles one day.
Efe Ajagba defeats Zhan Kossobutskiy
In a foul-fest, heavyweight Efe Ajagba (18-1, 13 KOs) kept his career alive with a fourth round DQ win over fringe contender Zhan Kossobutskiy (19-1, 18 KOs). The referee twice penalized Kossobutskiy for low blows in the third round.
Kossobutskiy continued to throw low blows in the fourth round, but the referee disqualified him. Ajagba was throwing low blows, too, but the referee focused on Kossobutskiy, the B-side.
In the fourth, Ajagbal landed a wicked punch to the lower back of Kossobutskiy and retaliated with a low blow. The referee then stepped in and halted the fight.