Rising heavyweight contender Jared Anderson will be the featured fighter on the card when he faces Charles Martin on Saturday in Toledo, Ohio, Anderson’s hometown.
JARED ANDERSON (14-0, 14 KOs)
VS. CHARLES MARTIN (29-3-1, 26 KOs)
- Date: Saturday, July 1
- Time: 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT (main event later in show)
- Where: Huntington Center, Toledo, Ohio
- TV/Stream: ESPN, ESPN+
- Division: Heavyweight (no limit)
- At stake: No major titles
- Odds: Anderson 7½-1 favorite (average of multiple outlets)
- Also on the card: Arslanbek Makhmudov vs. Raphael Akpejiori, heavyweights
- Prediction: Anderson KO 7
- Background: Anderson will be taking center stage at only 23. The heavyweight contender from Toledo, who will be fighting Martin in front of his hometown fans, has been building toward main event exposure by knocking out all 14 of his professional opponents. He’s a terrific athlete with elite punching power and his skills are improving with every fight, making him a potential star. He just has to prove that he can beat top-level big men. Martin doesn’t fall into that category but he’s a former titleholder with solid ability, making him arguably Anderson’s toughest test to date. The 37-year-old from St. Louis bounced back from a sixth-round knockout loss to Luis Ortiz in January of last year by stopping Devin Vargas in four eight months later. He briefly reigned as IBF beltholder in 2016, losing his title by a second-round knockout against Anthony Joshua. Anderson had been scheduled to face Zhan Kossobutskiy of Khazakhstan but Kossobutskiy was pulled from the card about a week and a half ago because he couldn’t procure a visa. Martin agreed to step in at that time.
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