SANTA MONICA, Calif. – Jared Anderson’s burgeoning career is on the brink of a breakout.
“Big Baby” has already evolved into a headliner for Top Rank, and with the recent demise of Deontay Wilder, Anderson can now officially be considered the best American heavyweight in boxing.
Anderson (17-0, 15 KOs) plans to further prove his potential and promise on Saturday when he takes on Congolese contender Martin Bakole (20-1, 15 KOs) at the BMO Stadium in Los Angeles. The fight will be featured on Riyadh Season’s debut event in the United States, a card headlined by Terence Crawford’s quest to become a four-division champion against WBA junior middleweight titleholder Israil Madrimov.
On Wednesday, Anderson emerged for a public workout at the Santa Monica Pier.
Anderson has an ocean of talent and was hand-picked by Turki Alalshikh, chairman of the General Entertainment Authority in Saudi Arabia, as the lone Top Rank representative to be featured on the cross-promotional show produced by Matchroom.
Should Anderson emerge victorious, he’ll be sitting pretty to be featured on the Dec. 21 card headlined by the rematch between Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury in Saudi Arabia.
“It means a lot to me. It means that Turki Alalshikh himself has a lot of faith in me. They are backing me a lot and believe in my skill set,” Anderson told BoxingScene. “I’m ready to prove them right and put on a great performance. I need to keep doing what I need to do and stay focused.”
Anderson, 24, put problems that plagued him in the rear-view mirror and cruised to an easy win against Ryad Merhy in April, as Anderson outlasted the listless Merhy and outlanded the Belgian 128-34 for a 10-round decision.
“I got hit with very few shots, and that’s the goal for this fight,” said Anderson. “To stay true to what I need to do to win and what’s going to work. Even if the knockout doesn’t come or it’s not the prettiest fight, I need to keep winning.”
Anderson believes a stationary Bakole will show up, begging to be blasted.
“We know that he’s not the fastest fighter,” said Anderson. “He’s going to be the bigger man as far as weight – but bigger guys tend to gas out faster.”
The slight betting favorite Anderson squabbled with promoter Eddie Hearn on Tuesday, demanding a wager to be placed since the Matchroom exec felt strongly about backing Bakole.
Bakole, 32, is coming off a fourth-round TKO win against Carlos Takam in October and is riding a nine-fight winning streak since suffering the lone loss of his career via stoppage to Michael Hunter in 2018.
“[I don’t have to chase him around the ring too much] – not at all,” said Anderson. “He says he’s going to knock me out and I can’t wait to watch him try to prove it … My hand will be raised by the end of the night.”
Bakole, meanwhile, is boasting a big game as the massive underdog.
“I came to America on business, I did not come here to joke, I did not come here to play. I will knock out Anderson,” he said.
Manouk Akopyan is a sports journalist, writer and broadcast reporter. He’s also a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and the MMA Journalists Association. He can be reached on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube at @ManoukAkopyan, through email at manouk[dot]akopyan[at]gmail.com or via www.ManoukAkopyan.com.