From his promoter’s perspective, Jared Anderson needed to experience what he went through against Charles Martin.
The hard-hitting heavyweight contender had boxed beyond the fourth round only once in his first 14 professional fights and had stopped each of his previous six opponents in three rounds or less. Anderson hadn’t gone the distance, either, before Martin took him all 10 rounds July 1 in a main event ESPN televised from Huntington Center in Anderson’s hometown of Toledo, Ohio.
Anderson also withstood some adversity versus Martin, who rocked Anderson with left hands during the fifth round and again with several seconds to go before the final bell sounded. None of what transpired against Martin changed Bob Arum’s plans for the 23-year-old Anderson, who will return to the ring Saturday night in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
“I think that’s great,” Arum told BoxingScene.com. “I really thought it was a terrific performance. Nobody knew if he could go 10 rounds. It was a positive. If he got in the ring and couldn’t bang out the guy, could he go the distance and fight on to victory? And it wasn’t a close fight. He did extraordinarily well. Martin was in very good shape, so I was very pleased with the performance.”
The two abovementioned moments notwithstanding, Anderson defeated Martin by wide distances on all three scorecards (99-90, 99-90, 99-91). Anderson also dropped Martin, a former IBF champion, with a right hand late in the third round.
“He’s a work in progress,” Arum said. “I thought Martin came in in great, great shape, and Jared handled him extraordinarily well. And he’s not gonna knock out every fighter that he fights. Ali didn’t knock out every fighter that he fought early on. Sometimes, the fights go the distance.”
Martin took that difficult fight in his opponent’s hometown on only 11 days’ notice because Kazakhstan’s Zhan Kossobutskiy couldn’t obtain his visa in time to travel to the United States to face Anderson.
Ukraine’s Andrii Rudenko (35-6, 21 KOs), Anderson’s opponent Saturday night, isn’t seen as dangerous as Martin (29-4-1, 26 KOs). Rudenko, 39, has had plenty of time to prepare, however, for just his second fight since countryman Vladyslav Sirenko (19-0, 16 KOs) stopped Rudenko in the sixth round of their December 2021 bout in Brovari, Ukraine.
“If it goes the distance, it goes the distance,” Arum said. “Jared is learning from these fights and I have really high hopes that down the road he’s gonna be the heavyweight champion. Rudenko is a very durable guy, and hopefully he acquits himself well.”
Rudenko has taken WBO interim champ Zhilei Zhang, former WBA champ Alexander Povetkin, undefeated contender Agit Kabayel, Hughie Fury and Lucas Browne the distance in five of his six losses. Zhang, Kabayel, Fury and Browne were all unbeaten when they defeated Rudenko.
Anderson’s 16th professional fight will come just seven weeks after he went the distance with Martin.
“We’re gonna keep him busy, keep him going,” Arum said. “That’s the way to develop a future heavyweight champion. And that’s what we’re after.”
Anderson-Rudenko will headline a two-bout broadcast from Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tulsa. Kossobutskiy (19-0, 18 KOs) will encounter Nigeria’s Efe Ajagba (17-1, 13 KOs) in the 10-round co-feature of an ESPN telecast scheduled to start at 10:30 p.m. EDT and 7:30 p.m. PDT.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.