The night of July 1st at the Huntington Center in Toledo, Ohio, saw one of the most spotlighted young heavyweights in the world become overshadowed by another heavyweight. Jared Anderson headlined the event along with Charles Martin but was confronted with the stark reality of the heavyweight division despite netting a unanimous decision (UD) victory. On the other hand, Arslanbek Makhmudov proved his status as an up-and-coming contender by swiftly and brutally disposing of his opponent.
Jared Anderson (15-0, 14 KOs), 23, fought fellow American Charles Martin (29-4-1, 26 KOs), 37, while defending his WBC USA and WBO International heavyweight titles. Martin was a late substitute following the failure of Anderson’s original opponent, Zhan Kossobutskiy (19-0, 18 KOs), to secure a visa to fight in the USA.
Though a late stand-in, Charles Martin showed the experience and ability of a former world champion in his fight with Jared Anderson, which begs the question of what the fight would have looked like if Martin had gone through a full training camp.
Despite winning against Martin by unanimous decision with all three judges scoring the fight 99-90, Anderson lost his 100% knockout (KO) ratio by failing to finish Martin. Anderson did score a 3rd-round knockdown and won the majority of the rounds, but Martin clearly offset the predictions of him being a wide underdog by showing up and truly fighting Jared Anderson to the best of his ability.
Charles Martin perhaps won a couple more rounds than the judges’ scorecards indicated, with his cleanly landed shots seemingly stunning the younger Jared Anderson. However, he overall did not do enough to grab a victory. Nevertheless, Anderson’s performance was solid though not convincing due to him not being able to finish Martin within the distance.
A lack of defense seemed to be at the forefront of Anderson’s struggles with Charles Martin, who landed more punches than he should have given his lack of preparation as a late substitute. Though known for his great conditioning, Jared Anderson seemed to lack the defense to truly turn his stamina into an advantage. On many occasions, Charles Martin looked like he could have pulled off an upset knockout/stoppage victory.
However, Charles Martin lacked the punch output to ultimately make a difference, and Jared Anderson won by putting in greater effort throughout the fight, despite taking more worrying shots from Martin than anticipated. Jared Anderson retained both his unbeaten winning streak and his WBC USA & WB International titles.
The co-main event featured Russian contender Arslanbek Makhmudov (17-0, 16 KOs) and Nigerian contender Raphael Akpejiori (15-1, 14 KOs), showing the stark difference in levels between Anderson and Makhmudov. While both heavyweights came into the fight undefeated, it was Makhmudov who retained his unbeaten record and impressed even more with his victory over Akpejiori.
Given their knockout/stoppage ratios, the match between Makhmudov and Akpejiori was expected to be a slugfest, which it turned into early on in the 1st round. Akpejiori was knocked down in the closing minute of the round after being huddled up with Makhmudov in a clinch. Notably, Makhmudov appeared to hit the back of Akpejiori’s head (whether intentionally or not), and the knockdown should not have been counted due to such blows being considered illegal. Nevertheless, the knockdown seemed to be the turning point of the match.
Akpejiori suffered another knockdown in the 1st round during the last closing seconds, resulting in him falling into the ropes. The 2nd round showed that Akpejiori had suffered significant damage, and he barely held on until the last half of the fight until he was knocked down again by a left hook, stumbling and falling into the ropes.
Though Akpejiori beat the count of ten to stand up after his knockdown, the referee ruled Arslanbek Makhmudov as the winner, deeming Akpejiori too unsteady on his legs. Makhmudov won the match by technical knockout (TKO).
The July 1st fight night showed two different heavyweights who, despite their differing ages (Makhmudov being 34 as opposed to Anderson’s 23 years of age), clearly displayed who the better heavyweight was. With both Anderson and Makhmudov belonging to the same promotion of Top Rank, a fight between them would not be farfetched, but it will likely be avoided. Arslanbek Makhmudov showed he is in good enough form to challenge for a title, while Jared Anderson will most likely face heavyweight opponents similar to Charles Martin to help him gain the necessary experience to become elite.
Whether Arslanbek Makhmudov is truly a world-class boxer remains to be seen, though his performance against Raphael Akpejiori suggests he is quite ready for such a step-up. However, like Anderson, Makhmudov has a resume of boxers who cannot be considered elite, and Akpejiori was arguably a level below Charles Martin, who used to be a world champion.
Both fighters will perhaps need to face higher-level opponents. Still, at the current age of 34, Arslan Makhmudov has shown himself to be a viable contender with his performances in the ring and will likely not look out of place fighting against the top 10 of the heavyweight division. He seems prepared to make the eventual step-up to become a legitimate heavyweight contender.
