The heavyweight division in boxing reclaimed its status as the glamour division of the sport as the likes of Tyson Fury, Oleksandr Usyk, Deontay Wilder and Anthony Joshua have breathed new life into a division that stagnated in the 2000s. But in 2023 the division is seeing those names reach the end of their career. Fury (34) routinely teases retirement while Usyk (36) and Wilder (37) aren’t spring chickens and Anthony Joshua (33) finds himself at a career crossroad.
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There will be a need for new blood to carry the heavyweight division and the most likely candidate to take the giants into their next era is none other than Jared "The Real Big Baby" Anderson. At 23, Anderson possesses a tantalizing combination of speed, power and size (six-foot-four) to go along with natural charisma that has him destined to be the next big thing in the heavyweight division. With a record of 14-0 with all of his wins coming by way of knockout, Anderson has certainly showed the potential but he remains relatively untested in his career. And by "tested," it means that we’ll have to see what happens when another giant punches him in the mouth one good time and how he reacts to it.
Granted, we probably won’t learn anything new about Anderson when he faces Charles Martin on July 1. Martin is the former IBF heavyweight champion but he’s now 37 years of age and is stepping in on short notice after Zhan Kossobutskiy was unable to obtain his visa in time for the fight. Anderson is fully expected to blast Martin into another realm and continue his winning ways. It’s highly unlikely that Martin will do much to deter Anderson from collecting his 15th win and we’ll be left wondering just how good he really is.
The good news is that Anderson is very young and has a great deal of time to develop. If there’s any bad news it is that the heavyweight division is highly volatile and can turn a contender into a pretender relatively quickly. We have seen big punching heavyweights turned to dust before once they are tested. The likes of David Tua, Samuel Peter and David Haye come to mind. But Anderson feels like a different breed of heavyweight. He fights angry like someone who has set his mind to destroying the opposition and isn’t interested in exchanging pleasantries beforehand. But the fury isn’t blind. Instead, it is tactfully deployed as he prods the opposition until openings to land one of his bombs opens up.
He made his professional debut as a 19-year-old against Daniel Infante and shut his organs down with a left hook to the body in the first round. The beatings he hands out are systemic and devastating. He can obliterate an opponent with one punch or he can break them down until they lose their will to fight. The sheer variety that he finds ways to finish the opposition should alarm the heavyweight division considering that he has not reached his prime years.
There is also the element that Anderson is an American heavyweight that is attractive. While many men his size in the United States opt for a career in American football or basketball, Anderson has dedicated himself to the sweet science. He’s not a late starter in the sport like Wilder and Joshua and had a strong amateur career winning both the 2017 and 2018 U.S. National Championships. He turned pro in 2019 and has put on one blistering performance after another. Add in the entertaining ring entrances that have gone viral and you have a heavyweight who understands the assignment of entertaining the masses.
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He’ll headline in his hometown of Toledo and aim to keep his knockout streak going as he is broadcast into plenty of homes on ESPN. Those who haven’t seen him, and those who have seen him, will likely bang the drum louder to see him move up the heavyweight ladder sooner than later.
The next 12-18 months will be imperative for Anderson to begin facing more challenging opposition and put himself in line to contend for a title. Within that same window, it can be expected that the current crop of heavyweights will begin their trek into retirement. A new heavyweight star will be needed and it appears that there is one man who can fill that void.
Jared "The Real Big Baby" Anderson.