Jared Dovan Anderson vs. Charles Lee Martin & Arslanbek Makhmudov vs. Raphael Akpejiori RBR.

Yeah Ruiz probably beats him if he bothers to train. Anderson likes to lead and isn't a mover so Ruiz will get to counter and won't have to chase him down.

Martin was in decent shape, but not at his best. How could he be having taken this on 12 days notice, when preparing for a fight 4 weeks later.

 

Haven't seen the fight yet. Will watch later.

 

Yeah but wasn’t Martin staying active in the gym for 11 months? He’s been training, but the opponent Anderson is short notice. But Physically Martin was peak, never seen him
Look that lean before.

 

Agreed, when you ko 14 stiffs and then fight a guy with world class experience it shows. I expected Martin to phone it in and be ko'ed inside 4 rounds but after he got nailed Anderson had a strange look on his face , like this isn't part of the script! I'm not going to write him off and In my opinion it shows he needs much more work and maybe another 10 or so fights against competition he can learn from and not just blast out. He very well may need a new trainer, and not a buddy as one.

 

Boy I agree with that, he fought like a guy who had a plane to catch. He had absolutely no fear of anything coming back . I was thinking after seeing several of his fights he looked wilder than ever in this one. However, while a guy like Usyk would paste his face with jabs and counters and make him look like a green novice amateur I wonder how he'd handle that gorilla like strength and power in the inevitable clinches, mauling and wrestling that Makhmudov would get him into. On a scale of 1-10 skillwise Usyk is at least an 8. Makh is about a 3 but what he does have can erase that advantage. Now a bigger heavyweight who can use his jab and has good pop in his right hand will catch Mak coming in all night and even a granite chin will crack if it's hit enough. I'll give Makhmudov this though, when he fights I want to see it ,warts and all.

 

Makhmudov makes Tex Cobb look like Willie Pep

 

It’s a very entertaining fight IMO.

Anderson needs some work but still not a horrible prospect just far from facing any high level guy right now. Martin was a decent test and that should tell you all you need to know about Anderson now.
I would put money on Big Chris coming out of retirement and giving him a heck of a fight and perhaps KO the kid

 

He was leaner and lighter vs Ortiz and Joshua.

He may or may not have been training but he wouldn't have been training for Anderson. Being in condition is only a part of preparing for a fight, preparing for a specific opponents skill set is arguably more important than just being in shape.

He was set to fight Gurgen Hovhannisvan who's nothing like Anderson. He's a 6'7" 280lb heavy with a 4-0 record. So not exactly going to prepare you for the smaller, faster Anderson.

 

I wasn't impressed. He makes Wilder look like Sugsr Ray Leonard. LOL Guy was way too sloppy, didn't set up any shots with the jab, just loaded up power shots and let them fly.

 

I'm not an expert on the subject by any means, but from what I understand, at the time boxing was the more lucrative sport by miles. The others existed, they just didn't pay quite as well. Nowadays you get pretty hefty sums from the others, and while boxing also pays well to the big names, there's considerably less risk attached to these other sports.

 

Yep boxing was indeed far more lucrative. Over the years while boxing has become more splintered and not really ever changed it's business model, other sports became more unified with rival organisations merging together and overall became more professional and more able to curate a product that suited TV, providing a regular and reliable product for networks and viewers. So the NFL, NBA, PGA, ATP and WTA all grew and became more popular, more lucrative and so of course it's attracted the best athletes.

Also in the US the high school and collegiate system for most major sports gives young athletes a clear avenue to take that can garner you endorsements and provide an education. Nothing like that in boxing, amateur boxing in the US is awfully poorly funded, hence the decline of US amateur boxing. Most pro boxers can't even get endorsements yet you have collegiate athletes since the rules changed in 2021 now getting endorsement deals from the likes of Nike and Adidas. You've got athletes before they even turn pro earning 6 figures from endorsement deals why on earth would anyone with any talent for other sports even look at boxing.

 

It was tough to watch and thank God the ref told them it was not a wrestling match

 

For the level of their skills, Anderson and Martin did a decent fight and showed no good cardio, average speed, average footwork and questionable chins. Jared had some moments in terms of movements and strikes, probably will become a good fighter under the right training. But for now he must stay away from the top 15 guys.

 

It would make sense for him to fight the ghost of Luis Ortiz.