Jared Anderson might be slowly building a name for himself but the highly-rated heavyweight prospect knows good and well that he has a ways to go before he’s considered a true contender. While he continues to put in the work, Anderson took the time to take a break from his meticulous routine to become a fan.
This past weekend, at the O2 Arena in the United Kingdom, Anthony Joshua rebounded from back-to-back defeats at the hands of Oleksandr Usyk by scoring a unanimous decision victory against Jermaine Franklin. With Derrick James soundly pleased with his new fighter, Anderson agrees that their pairing produced somewhat impressive results.
Be that as it may, despite Joshua showing discernment, Anderson doubts that the former unified champion has what it takes to usurp his two biggest adversaries.
“I think he looked better than his last fights,” said Anderson to BoxingScene.com. “But I still don’t think he beats Deontay Wilder or Tyson Fury.”
Although James proudly claimed that Joshua did exactly what he was instructed, the hulking big man appeared unnerved in the ring at times. At various moments throughout, Joshua would uncork a pernicious right hand, staggering Franklin in the process. In times past, Joshua would normally sprint across the ring and go for the kill. However, this time around, he remained patient and refused to engage in a firefight.
While the end result was to his liking, Joshua (25-3, 22 KOs) admitted that he was somewhat disappointed in his inability to take Franklin out before the sound of the final bell. Ultimately, Joshua chalked up his lack of a killer instinct to his relatively new relationship with James. Anderson, on the other hand, views things differently.
On June 1st, 2019, Joshua, after dominating his competition in the United Kingdom, brazenly made the trek halfway across the world to the United States. Though he was originally set to take on Jarrell Miller, he was eventually removed and suspended due to a long string of failed drug tests. Stepping in on relatively short notice, however, was Andy Ruiz Jr.
Viewed as a tenuous challenger, Ruiz would go on to violently stop Joshua in the seventh round. And while the muscular Britt would exact his revenge a few months later, Anderson is convinced that the damage had already been done. When asked why Joshua hasn’t quite looked like his dominant self, the 23-year-old pointed to the punishment he endured nearly five years ago.
“Andy Ruiz knockout.”