"They came for my boxing ability, for my name." Rising American heavyweight star Jared Anderson is fired up by the "disrespect" he received after beating Charles Martin; Anderson believes he is one of the few fighters with the attributes to defeat unified champion Oleksandr Usyk
Saturday 26 August 2023 23:04, UK
America's rising heavyweight hope Jared Anderson has a new impetus to succeed. He is stung by the criticism of his last fight.
Anderson outpointed former IBF champion Charles Martin in his last fight, being taken the distance for the first time in his professional career as well as going 10 rounds for the first time.
Criticism of his performance did not escape Anderson's notice.
"Somebody asked me what is my biggest motivation? And after that fight, my biggest motivation is disrespect. What people said about me. How they came for my boxing ability, for my name," he told Sky Sports.
"Because I don't fight for me, I fight for my last name. I fight for who comes with me and that's like disrespecting my family when you talk about me like that. There's some people who said some hurtful things.
"I know words don't hurt people, but I'm one of those people where I don't want anything bad for you, or I won't say anything bad against you, unless you do that to me.
"Just to know that people don't honestly know me and to say those things about me is disrespectful and it's motivating me right now."
Charles acquitted himself well in that contest. "He actually came to fight. He showed up, he showed out," Anderson said. "He wasn't stationary at all. He moved a lot that fight, he used his legs, even when I was hitting him with good shots, even when I did go to his body.
"He did a lot of things to try and negate what I was doing, but I was also on the other hand negating what he had to the best of his ability. I took his best shot well, I caught shots, even after that and did what I was supposed to do in order to win."
Anderson only beat Charles in July. He's back in action this weekend against Andrii Rudenko at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Tulsa, live on Sky Sports in the early hours of Sunday morning.
"I'm expecting a rugged fight. Somebody who just wants to get in tight and be able to hit me with anything he can," the American said.
"I'm sure he's aware that I'm pretty slick and I'll be able to move with my feet, especially move my head, so I'm sure he'll try all his veteran tricks to do it."
Anderson believes he has the power to stop Rudenko. "I definitely think I do. I go to the body, not like these other heavyweights. I don't just stay on top and try and hit you on top of your head," he said.
"I've seen some people take some dangerous shots to the head and keep coming forward. I plan to go downstairs and see what his bread basket is like."
It's a weekend of action across the heavyweight division. Efe Ajagba versus unbeaten Kazakh heavyweight Zhan Kossobutskiy will be on Jared Anderson's undercard in Tulsa.
In Poland on Saturday Oleksandr Usyk is defending the unified WBO, WBA and IBF heavyweight titles against Britain's Daniel Dubois.
Anderson questions whether Dubois "has the IQ in order to catch him and stop him in his tracks?"
"He definitely has the power. Does he have the IQ? I think Usyk is one of the smarter fighters in the division and I'm not going to say 'the smartest' but he's one of the top two or three fighters in the division," Anderson said.
"Usyk is a very, very smart fighter. For every problem that you answer, I feel like he has another one waiting for you. A trap door set for you. He can take a hell of a punch too. You've got to be able to answer his punch with your punch also."
To defeat him, you need to be "somebody who is elusive and just smart".
Anderson is convinced that he is one of a very select group of fighters that has the attributes to beat Usyk.
"You need a plan A through to Z. You need more than just three or four plans," he said.
"One hundred per cent [I can set traps]. I have the speed and the intelligence to do both. My speed is tricky enough, but me setting the traps on top of it will equal out what we have together.
"I think Tyson Fury is one [who can beat Usyk]. I also think I'm another."
Watch Jared Anderson vs Andrii Rudenko live on Sky Sports Arena from 2.30am and Sky Sports Main Event from 3am on Sunday morning
