Heavyweight Jared Anderson (17-1, 15 KOs) needs an impressive performance next month against Marios Kollias (12-3-1, 10 KOs) on Friday, February 14, at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City. This is a fight designed to restore Anderon’s confidence after what happened to him in his last fight on August 3rd.
Bakola’s nightmare
‘Big Baby’ Anderson, 25, promoted to the top rank, destroyed Martin Bakole in five rounds last August, and he looked awful in that fight. Jared was completely outmatched from the jump, falling in the first round. The fight would have ended in the first round if the knockdown had happened earlier because Anderson looked like he wasn’t there after getting up.
Bakole was too powerful for Anderson. In the fifth, he knocked down Anderson two more times and reached the knockout. It wasn’t even sporty. Promoter Bob Arum hasn’t given up on Jared, but believe me he will soon if he continues to perform like this.
If you’re Arum, you have to consider dropping Anderson if he looks bad against the little-known Kollias. This is kind of a confidence-boosting fight for Jared, but if he looked terrible here, Arum needs to get rid of him. He’s still young enough to improve, but his resistance to punches, lack of strength, and timid fighting style make it unlikely that he could improve.
Anderson looks good throwing combos and attacking weak prey, but he looked terrible against Bakole. The guys at the top of the heavyweight division are pretty old.
So there is a chance for Jared to win one of the belts after the old men retire, but not if he faces someone with power like Bakole or even Zhilei Zhang. He is 41 years old, but he is still too dangerous for Anderson. If Arum can protect Jared long enough, he may be able to win the belt at some point. He would have to keep him away from anyone with power because he will get destroyed like he did against Bakole.
This wasn’t the first time Anderson looked grumpy. He was injured in fights against Jerry Forrest and Charles Martin. Those fights showed that Jared’s ability to deal with lower level fighters just isn’t there. It’s too fragile. That’s what I would do.
Arum still believes in Jared
Anderson-Kollias will fight a 10-rounder on the Denys Berinchyk vs. Keyshawn Davis undercard on ESPN and ESPN+.
“I still believe that Jared Anderson is one of the most feared heavyweights in the world and I expect him to come back with a vengeance this year,” Arum said.
Keyshawn Davis is another one of Arum’s projects that he is trying to turn into a star. However, he will need to be protected just like Jared. He’s already struggled against Nahir Albright and Miguel Maduen.
Keyshawn was reminiscent of a WWE wrestler against Maduen, and the referee didn’t disqualify him for all the rough tactics he used in that fight. Davis looked desperate to win and emptied his closets for any trick he could use to prevent Maduen from knocking him out.
Andy Cruz handled Keyshawn at the 2020 Olympics, easily defeating him in a one-sided gold medal fight in the finals. It was surprising that Arum decided to sign Keyshawn after that loss and not Cruz. I guess he thinks he can build him up with his ability to rant instead of fight.
