Anderson Victorious In Hometown Pro Debut

Toledo, Ohio-  Heavyweight prospect Jared Anderson (15-0, 14 KOs) and former world champion Charles Martin (29-4-1, 26 KOs)) met atop a card broadcast live on ESPN, with Anderson emerging victorious via unanimous decision. The judges scored the bout 98-91 and 99-90 (x2). It was Anderson’s first professional bout in his hometown of Toledo, Ohio. Additionally, it was also Anderson’s first time headlining a card of any kind in his professional career. An official attendance of 7,234 was announced for the card that took place at the Huntington Center.

Originally, Anderson was slated to face Kazakh Zhan Kossobutskiy. However, Kossobutskiy had to withdraw from the card due to issues in obtaining a visa. As a result, Martin stepped in on 11 days notice. Whether the original bout will be rescheduled is yet to be seen.

Anderson vs. Martin fight recap

The fight began cautiously as Anderson pressed forward in the orthodox stance. Anderson spent the majority of the clash out of this stance. Martin was content with remaining on the backfoot and was not very active in the opening round. Things heated up towards the end as Anderson had some success, landing clean shots on Martin. Round two also saw Anderson walk Martin down and land more clean shots compared to the first.

Anderson continued to walk down Martin and was rewarded for it with a knockdown. A jab followed by an overhand right were the shots that sent Martin to the canvas in the third. In round four, Anderson switched to southpaw and went back to orthodox closer to the final, continuing to land.

Martin’s most successful round was the fifth as he appeared to stun Anderson with plenty of time left. Despite this, Anderson was able to make it to the end of the round, showing the strength of his chin.

Following the fifth, the remained of the clash was much of the same: Anderson pressing forward and landing the better punches and Martin content with being on the backfoot.

In the tenth and final round, Anderson was urged on by his home crowd to secure the knockout. In the dying seconds of the fight, Martin was able to stun Anderson again. He was unable to capitalize on his moment of success as the final bell rang. When the final totals were announced, it was Anderson who had his hand raised.

Additional bouts

Beginning the ESPN telecast was a clash between two unbeaten heavyweights. Arslanbek Makhmudov (17-0, 16 KOs) emerged with his hand raised as he dominated Raphael Akpejiori (15-1, 14 KOs), stopping him in two rounds. Makhmudov landed hard shots from the very beginning. He knocked down Akpejiori twice in the opening round, including once just before the bell rang to end the round. Makhmudov continued to dominate in the second round, dropping Akpejiori for a third and final time. The referee counted to eight before waving the fight off.

Just prior to the main event, Cleveland native Abdullah Mason (9-0, 8 KOs) also won via second round stoppage. In the opening round, he pressed forward against Brazilian Alex de Oliveira (20-5, 14 KOs). However, Mason switched to staying on the backfoot in round two. For the duration of the bout, he landed the cleaner, more accurate shots and eventually dropped de Oliveira. Once he was dropped, de Oliveira did not get up and the fight was waved off.