By Mark Eisner: In the main event tonight, heavyweight Jared Anderson squares off against Charles Martin in a 10-rounder, while the booming knockout artist Arslanbek Makhmudov faces Raphael Akpejiori in the undercard at the Huntington Center in Toledo, Ohio.
ESPN & ESPN+ will show the event at 10:00 p.m. ET. The preliminary action will be streamed on ESPN+ at 6:10 p.m. ET.
Boxing News 24 will give live updates & results below of the action tonight.
Top Rank is quickly moving the 23-year-old Jared Anderson (14-0, 14 KOs), putting him in with former IBF heavyweight champion Charles Martin (29-3-1, 26 KOs) tonight.
Full card in live boxing tonight on ESPN:
Jared Anderson vs. Charles Martin
Abdullah Mason vs. Alex de Oliveira
Arslanbek Makhmudov vs. Raphael Akpejiori
Tiger Johnson vs. Jonathan Montrel
Dante Benjamin Jr vs. Mirady Zola
Husam Al Mashhadi vs. Rance Ward
Tyler McCreary vs. Deivi Julio
Jahi Tucker vs. Nicklaus Flaz
Some would say that they have to move the 23-year-old Anderson than they would have preferred because WBC champion Tyson Fury, Deontay Wilder & Anthony Joshua are getting old and won’t be around too much longer.
Anderson needs an impressive performance against Martin
For Anderson to get the opportunity to fight them, he’s got to be highly ranked and fighting quality opposition. The 37-year-old Martin is a second-tier level heavyweight, but Top Rank could move Anderson in against top-tier fighters if he looks good tonight with an impressive knockout.
Heavyweight contender Arslanbek Makhmudov (16-0, 15 KO) is a guy that a lot of boxing fans are interested in seeing tonight, with him facing the unbeaten Raphael Akpejiori (15-0, 14 KO) in a 10-round fight.
Makhmudov is ranked at #5 with the WBA & WBC and could fight for a world title soon. It’s possible that Top Rank might take the chance of throwing Jared Anderson in with Makhmudov, but that would be a huger risk on their part.
We’ve already seen Anderson get staggered by journeyman Jerry Forrest recently, and although he’s knocking everyone out, it would be dangerous to put the still-green fighter in with a puncher like Makhmudov.
Also on the card is the talented prospect Abdullah Mason (8-0, 7 KO) battling Alex de Oliveira (20-4, 14 KO) in a six-round fight.
Max Kellerman: “Jared Anderson, you fight on ESPN in Toledo for the first time. What’s it been like prepping for a homecoming fight?” said Max On Boxing.
Jared Anderson: “It’s been amazing, man. I had a great Camp. I’m well-prepared. My mind is very focused. I had a lot of people reach out and let me know that they’re in my corner, that they’re going to be at this fight. So it’s a lot of love.”
Kellerman: “It seems to me that you are the best American heavyweight prospect since at least Deontay Wilder. Maybe one day we’ll find out who is the best American heavyweight between you and Deontay Wilder in recent years.”
Jared doesn’t feel he has a responsibility
Kellerman: “Do you feel any kind of responsibility for that? That’s like bigger than yourself?”
Anderson: “Not at all. No, I don’t feel I get some responsibility at all because I do this for me and my family. So for me, it’s not about validation or anything like that or making anybody else proud. This is about me and my family and making everybody that I love and care about proud.”
Kellerman: “It was announced last week that due to a visa issue with your original opponent, you’re now going to face Charles Martin now. This is a guy who at one point had a [IBF heavyweight] belt. He lost it to Anthony Joshua [in 2016]. What are you trying to show against Martin?”
Anderson: “I’m a force to be reckoned with, and like I said before, I’m the best heavyweight in the world. I think my performances speak for themselves.
“I hope that everybody is entertained by this performance, from the time that I walk out to the time that I finish up my post-fight interview. I think it’s going to be entertainment the entire way through.”
Kellerman: “All right now, I want to get back to a comment you just made in a second, but I want to ask you first about a video put out by Top Rank on social media recently. It shows my former broadcast partner and probably the most talented fighter of all time, Roy Jones Jr, talking to you.
“It sounded to me, Jared, like an old Viking warrior talking to a young up-and-coming one. He was telling you essentially that you have to have the courage, which he believes you do to live out your destiny as a great fighter, and you seem to be choking back tears, telling them it’s a lot of pressure for a 23-year-old and that you never asked for it Roy basically told you, ‘Tough. It’s Your Destiny.’ What were you feeling during that exchange?”
Anderson: “There’s a lot going on, so to be honest with you, I can’t 100 percent tell you what I was feeling and what was going on in that moment, man.
“It was a lot going on simply because Roy is a legend, one of my favorite fighters, and it just meant so much to me at that moment for him to be trying to explain to me what he went through and how he got through it.
“So it was a lot but like I said, the pressures that I go through every day, fighting for my family and trying to provide. I think he gave me some insight, but at the same time, I feel he was half right and half wrong only because I don’t feel like it’s my responsibility. I don’t feel like I have to do that. It’s not my destiny.”
