Jared Anderson will face an undefeated opponent for just the second time as a pro when he returns to the ring April 8.
BoxingScene.com has learned that George Arias has agreed to battle the emerging, hard-hitting heavyweight in a 10-round co-feature ESPN will broadcast that night from Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. Anderson-Arias will immediately precede a main event in which Newark native Shakur Stevenson and Japan’s Shuichiro Yoshino will square off in a 12-round WBC lightweight elimination match.
Anderson (13-0, 13 KOs), who is promoted by Bob Arum’s Top Rank Inc., will look to keep his knockout streak intact against Arias (18-0, 7 KOs), a native of the Dominican Republic who resides in the Bronx, New York. The 31-year-old Arias isn’t nearly as big a puncher as Anderson, but he has beaten undefeated fighters in three of his past four bouts.
Arias most recently edged Cleveland’s Alante Green (then 10-0-1) by split decision in an eight-rounder that took place June 10 at Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona, New York. In the bout before he beat Green, Arias defeated Philadelphia’s Cassius Chaney (then 21-0) by split decision in a 10-rounder that occurred in December 2021 at Hammerstein Ballroom in New York.
As for the 23-year-old Anderson, the punishing puncher from Toledo, Ohio obliterated durable veteran Jerry Forrest in his last bout.
Forrest attacked Anderson as soon as their 10-rounder began December 10 at Madison Square Garden in New York. Anderson withstood Forrest’s fast start, unloaded a barrage of damaging shots on him and later stopped Forrest in the second round.
Referee David Fields halted the action at 1:34 of the second round, when Forrest appeared to be out on his feet. Anderson became just the second opponent in Forrest’s 34-fight professional career to beat him by knockout.
Prior to his loss to Anderson, Forrest (26-6-2, 20 KOs) hadn’t lost inside the distance since Gerald Washington (then 8-0) knocked him out in the second round of their August 2013 bout in Indio, California.
None of Anderson’s past five fights have lasted beyond the second round.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.