Every win from here on out pushes Jared Anderson that much closer to a shot at the heavyweight crown.
Most industry experts view the unbeaten 23-year-old as the heir apparent to the division’s top prize. Anderson shares that same view of himself, to a degree—his preference is just to let the body of work speak for itself.
“I’m just a fighter, that’s not my job to worry about it,” Anderson told BoxingScene.com of the path that will eventually lead to a world title shot. “We’re just going to keep going how it’s been and I’ll be ready for whatever challenge they offer me.”
For now, Anderson (14-0, 14KOs) is ready for arguably the biggest step up in his young career. The unbeaten rising contender faces former IBF heavyweight titlist Charles Martin (29-3-1, 26KOs) this Saturday atop an ESPN telecast from Huntington Center in his hometown of Toledo, Ohio.
Martin replaced Kazakhstan’s Zhan Kossobutskiy (19-0, 18KOs), who was unable to move forward with the fight due to a visa issue that could not resolved in time for this weekend’s main event.
Anderson will make his debut as a televised headliner, which also marks his first at home. His newfound main event status is expected to be the first of many as the goal for his handlers—Top Rank, co-promoter Antonio Leonard and manager James Prince—is to make the push towards an eventual shot at whoever is holding a heavyweight title once he is in that position to formally make his play.
“I’m at the point in my career where they know I’m ready for them to push me the way they’ve pushed me,” insisted Anderson, who is coming off a fourth-round knockout of unbeaten George Arias just twelve weeks ago. “We’re just going to keep going how it’s been and I’ll be ready for whatever challenge they offer me.”
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox