As already mentioned in the preliminary report: after the Universum boxer Zhan Kossobutskiy, originally intended as an opponent for Jared Anderson, had problems with the visa for the USA, Charles Martin stepped in just two weeks ago. However, Martin was already in training camp for a scheduled “I’ll do my tally” fight that was scheduled to take place on July 29 against Armenian Gurgen Hovhannisyan.
So ‘Prince Charles’ in training, which probably also explains the good shape and the low weight: the 37-year-old left-hander was 250.5 pounds almost ten pounds lighter than in his last fight against Devin Vargas, Anderson brought at the weigh-in on Friday 243.4 pounds on the scales.
Anderson the big favorite of this encounter, “Don’t go anywhere!” warned one of the TV commentators, 14 KO victories in 14 fights speak for themselves. Only the heavyweight Kingsley Ibeh had managed to stay “in the race” against Anderson until the sixth round. And so one had actually expected a short-round victory in the fight against Charles Martin.
Anderson started aggressively and as the more effective man in the ring, Martin reversed. Nevertheless, the 37-year-old ex-world champion had to go down in the third round after a right hand from Anderson. Before the round started, Martin’s corner had warned her boxer: “Stay away from Anderson’s right hand!”
Anderson was also the dominant man in round 4, no wonder, since the 23-year-old US boxer had announced that the fight would not last longer than five rounds. But in the fifth of all places Martin was able to put himself in the limelight, hit several hard hands and gave his opponent “wobbly legs”.
And with that, Jared Anderson – whom I personally find rather unsympathetic – lost the first round of his professional career. Also new was the fact that Martin took Anderson’s hit without having any effect, so that the fight ended up running the full distance of 10 scheduled rounds. Unfortunately without Charles Martin being able to add more impact hits. “It’s still a fight” then noted one of the TV commentators in the ninth round, but also a fight in which Martin’s tank was probably too empty in the end to be able to start again.
There was little work for referee Robert Hoyle, who ended up raising Jared Anderson’s hand: 98:91 and twice 99:90, a deserved unanimous point win for the contender. Well resolved by Anderson who, while not always handsome, also now has a “big name” on his tally.
My personal conclusion: Yes, Anderson won, but he still has to improve significantly. For example, his mouth is constantly open Alan Arkin, he almost never moves to the side and – also because he has no head movement – is hit unnecessarily often. In this fight he proved that he can take tough hits.
Would it have been enough to win against Zhan Kossobutskiy? I do not think so. Since the encounter with the Kazakh is to be made up for in August, this question will be answered soon.
