Heavyweight prospect Jared Anderson says he wants Filip Hrgovic or Daniel Dubois after he deals with Oleksandr Teslenko tonight in New York. The 6’4″ Anderson wants to pick off Dubois or Hrgovic so that he can keep progressing and moving forward with his career.
Unbeaten Anderson (10-0, 10 KOs), wh0 has done a lot of sparring with WBC champion Tyson Fury, faced Teslenko (17-1, 13 KOs) in an eight round fight tonight on the undercard of Vasily Lomachenko vs. Richard Commey on ESPN at Madison Square Garden.
Anderson says he wasn’t impressed watching the latest third round knockout victory for ‘El Animal’ Hrgovic (14-0, 12 KOs) over Emir Ahmatovic last Saturday night in Las Vegas.
Hrgovic was hit a lot in that fight by Ahmatovic and looked slow and beatable. If given the opportunity, Anderson fancies his chances of beating the 2016 Olympic bronze medalist Hrgovic.
It’s unlikely the 6’6″ Hrgovic would allow Anderson to fight him because he’s interested in fighting in a heavyweight title eliminator so that he can fight for a belt in 2022.
Jared Anderson wants Dubois or Hrgovic
“Camp was stressful for me, but I’m here, and I’m ready and mentally focused now,” said Jared Anderson to Boxing Social. “I’m here to win, and he’s an opponent.
“He has 17 wins, so he has something, but I don’t believe he has enough for me. To win impressively, that’s my only goal right now.
“No, not really, no, but they’re giving me 10 round fights next. You’re not going to be able to run. So, anybody that is trying to avoid a fight with me, you’re going to get mandated eventually.
“I want Filip Hrgovic or Daniel Dubois, any of those European boys, I would love to fight,” said Jared Anderson. “I watched it, and it was a joke,” said Anderson when asked if he watched Hrgovic’s last fight.
“In a 10 round, yeah,” said Jared when asked if he believes he’ll knock out Hrgovic. “Fight me,” Anderson said in sending a message to Filip Hrgovic.
“To be honest, I haven’t even watched him,” said Anderson about Daniel Dubois. “Everyone keeps wanting to bring his name up; well, fight me then. Yeah, 100%, I’ve wanted to go to the UK,” Anderson said when asked if he’d be willing to come to the UK to fight Dubois.
Size and power-wise, Daniel Dubois and Filip Hrgovic will be tough fights for the 6’4″ Jared Anderson because he’s not as tall or as powerful as either of them.
Hrgovic is robotic and easy to hit, but the rabbit punches he throws make him dangerous for Anderson. If Hrgovic can nail Jared with one of his powerful rabbit shots, he could hurt him and finish him off.
It’s unknown why Hrgovic’s punches wind up in the back of his opponent’s head, but whatever the reason, it makes him dangerous because his fights often involve many of those shots.
Jared would receive more attention and credit from boxing fans for beating the 24-year-old Dubois (17-1, 16 KOs) because he appears to be a better heavyweight than Hrgovic.
Dubois is younger, stronger, and throws clean combinations. He doesn’t look robotic like Hrgovic, and he has the better defense.
Jared might be too small, weak, and easy to hit for him to defeat Dubois right now. Joe Joyce beat Dubois last year by a 10th round knockout, but that guy took a lot of punishment in that fight to get the stoppage.
It’s doubtful that Anderson could take the shots that Joyce did for a sustained period before getting the stoppage.
Anderson picks Fury to defeat Whyte
“He wins easily. That’s all I got to say,” said Anderson when asked how he thinks WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury will do against his WBC-ordered mandatory Dillian Whyte in February or March. I don’t know if it’s by knockout or decision, but he wins,” said Jared in picking Fury to defeat Whyte.
“If you like me, keep watching. I like you do,” said Anderson when asked to give a message to the fans. “If you don’t like me, keep watching. I’m going to keep winning.”
The boxing public still doesn’t know if Fury will be defending his WBC title against Dillian Whyte or not next in early 2022.
Fury (31-0-1, 22 KOs) seemed irritated when asked about him being ordered to fight Whyte next, and one got the sense that he’s not thrilled that he’s stuck with this lesser match compared to the one he wants against Oleksandr Usyk or Anthony Joshua.
If Fury vacates his WBC title to swerve the Whyte fight, he’ll take a heap of abuse from boxing fans, and he’ll be beltless. Fury says he doesn’t care if he has titles, but that may be just words that he’s spouting.
I think Fury needs the WBC title as a chess piece to help create more fan interest for a fight between him and the winner of the Joshua vs. Usyk fight.
The hardcore boxing fans will be more impressed knowing that Fury is fighting the Joshua-Usyk winner for the undisputed championship, but obviously, the casuals won’t be bothered.
They already recognize those three heavyweights as the best in the division, and they don’t care about useless window dressing that comes with a fight being sold as being for the undisputed.