Tim Bradley says heavyweight Jared Anderson needs to put the brakes on being put in with higher-level opposition in the top four after the way he labored against Charles Martin last Saturday night at the Huntington Center in Toledo,
Bradley feels that the 23-year-old Anderson still needs a couple of years of development before he’s ready to take on the killers in the heavyweight division. However, Anderson says he wants to retire in four years when he’s 27.
So if Anderson wants to make retirement money & create generational wealth that will keep his children wealthy, he’s going to need to be moved at an accelerated pace against top-four competition sooner than Bradley’s two-year timeline.
If Anderson waits until he’s 25 before he begins fighting the dangerous top four guys, he won’t make enough money to make a big enough nest egg to retire without the need to get a 9 to 5 job.
If Top Rank wants to move Jared Anderson against a highly-ranked contender this year, they need to focus on these contenders:
- Frank Sanchez
- Andy Ruiz
- Filip Hrgovic
- Joseph Parker
- Dillian Whyte
- Lenier Pero
- Jarrell Miller
- Martin Bakole
On the positive side, Anderson (15-0, 14 KOs) got a wide ten round unanimous decision and showed that he could recover after being hurt several times after getting caught flush with left hands from the former IBF heavyweight champion Martin (29-4-1, 26 KOs). The scores were 98-91, 99-90, and 99-90.
“No, not yet,” said Tim Bradley to the State of Boxing, on whether Jared Anderson is ready to face top four competition.
“After seeing his performance tonight and seeing the punches that he was getting hit with as he was pulling straight back, he’s not ready. My question is, what are they [Top Rank] grooming him for because he just fought a southpaw, and now he’s fighting another southpaw.”
“I thought I looked like s**t today. Everybody else thought I looked great,” said Jared Anderson to the media after the fight. “I did my thing, and I adjusted. I think I adjusted fairly well, but I feel like I could have adjusted a lot better.”
Contrary to what Anderson said about everybody thinking he “looked great,” that’s not how people saw his performance against Charles Martin. Fans & the media thought Anderson looks flawed, getting hurt by the 37-year-old Martin and failing to knock out a guy that was blown out by 43-year-old Luis Ortiz last year and Anthony Joshua in 2016.
“I feel like I could have turned it up a notch after I dropped him, but I didn’t. Am I upset about that? Slightly but I got through the night, and a win is a win. I’m here,” said Anderson about his third round knockdown of Martin, which was shown to be a trip on instant replay.
In hindsight, it was good that Anderson didn’t go all out looking for a knockout in the third round when Martin tripped over his front foot because he would have been in danger of being knocked out by the unhurt southpaw power puncher.