Top Rank remain “very frustrated” at the significant setback in Jared Anderson’s career that was inflicted by Martin Bakole.
On Friday at the Theater at Madison Square Garden, on the undercard of Denys Berinchyk-Keyshawn Davis, against Greece’s little-known Marios Kollias, Top Rank and Anderson start the process of rebuilding his career.
It was in August when Anderson, 25 and then considered one of the world’s leading heavyweight prospects, was stopped by Bakole in five one-sided rounds.
He was once knocked down in the first round and twice more in the fifth, before further pressure from the 33-year-old Bakole led to Anderson being rescued on his feet.
In his previous 17 fights the promising Anderson had been matched admirably. The victory over Charles Martin little over a year earlier was perhaps the finest demonstration of the progress that was being made.
The successive defeats suffered by Deontay Wilder, to Joseph Parker and Zhilei Zhang, combined with the influence of Turki Alalshikh then led to him being matched with Bakole – a dangerous opponent but one whose profile as a Congolese fighting out of Scotland meant that in the US he had been largely little-known.
Even in the event of victory for such a youthful heavyweight, the reputational rewards for Anderson would not have justified the risk. Alalshikh, who was overseeing that evening’s main event between Israil Madrimov and Terence Crawford, similarly contributed to the then-undefeated Anderson working for the first time with a new trainer in the respected SugarHill Steward. Instead of continuing to advance in a heavyweight division considered on the verge of entering a new era, there remains the possibility that Anderson will never again be the same.
“The fight was originally Deontay Wilder – that was the fight that Jared Anderson was supposed to fight,” Brad Jacobs, the chief operating officer of Top Rank, told BoxingScene. “Wilder ran into [Zhilei] Zhang and that fight was over. His Excellency and his team offered up Bakole as a new opponent. We were not thrilled – our matchmakers Brad Goodman and Bruce Trampler did not like the fight for Jared. Not that he can’t beat him at some point; [it was believed] it was just not the right fight for him at this stage of his career. Unfortunately that’s what turned out.
“High risk. Good puncher. Good fighter. Not the right style for Jared at that point of his career. But with Riyadh Season – they’re offering a lot of money to Jared. I think he was a little in a fog with that part of it. Look, we can’t turn back the clock. It’s what happens now and what happens from here on in – we’ve got to help him rebuild his career and get back to that position.
“It’s very frustrating, obviously. But like we said, there’s nothing we can do about it; it’s over. So now it’s just about what we can do in the future.
“Hopefully, not Jared only, but other fighters understand that when we have the guidance and history with our matchmakers – 50, 60 years between them; whatever the number is – they know what they’re doing and they know what they’re talking about. We can only suggest to the fighters. At the end of the day, they’re going to do what they want to do, as far as what fights they want to take.
“You just have to look at the track record [under Top Rank] of all the fighters. Oscar De La Hoya; Manny Pacquiao; the list goes on and on and on. They provided the proper opposition for them at the right time in their career, and as each fight progressed they learned more and more, so when they got into tough matches or fights where they were a little bit of an underdog or whatever it may be, they were ready for it. That’s what you’re getting when you’re getting the two hall-of-fame matchmakers that work for Top Rank.”
Bob Arum, the chairman of Top Rank and another Hall of Fame inductee, later described Anderson-Bakole as “the stupidest fight Jared could have taken”. His promotional organization, regardless, is recognised as perhaps the finest of all at matching fighters. The 33-year-old Kollias, incidentally, is perhaps the calibre of opponent that Anderson was fighting in 2021.
“It’s a tougher battle [hereafter to guide Anderson],” Jacobs continued. “I mean – certainly he was on the rise. He was a near sell-out in his hometown [Toledo, Ohio]. All that’s got to happen again. Now it’s really up to him.
“He’s got to show that he wants to get back in the ring, and back in the form that he was prior to that. And we’ll see. I think anything is a concern for us until he gets back in the ring and shows that he’s back on a good footing.
“He was matched properly. Matchmaking is one part of it. You’ve got to perform. He was performing. He was beating the guys – knocking guys out that he was supposed to – as we anticipated he did and hoped he would. He got up to a level [against Bakole] that was not to his liking at the moment. Another guy, you don’t know what’s going to happen on the night, right? And that’s why we fight the fights. That’s why all the fans tune in.
“We truly thought and still think he’s got the possibility of becoming a heavyweight champion. One loss doesn’t ruin your career. It’s a setback, no question about it. But let’s see. It’s up to him.
“It’s a lot of changes at one time, going to a fight sort of on short notice against an opponent you weren’t ready for; new trainers. But, again, it’s about what the fighter does in the ring; how he performs, etcetera. It wasn’t his night. We could point at all kinds of different issues or problems or what we perceive as problems, but it wasn’t his night.
“It happens [that Top Rank also have encouraged fighters to change trainers], but more of a suggestion. And this is not specific to Anderson, but fighters in general, obviously. If as a group we don’t feel the fighter may be performing as positively, maybe talk to him about a changing of a trainer or training environment or sparring partner – whatever it is.
“The fighters and their managers and their training staff – they’re the ones who pick that. We really don’t get involved in that part of the business.”
BoxingScene reported on Tuesday that a fight between Naoya Inoue and Mexico’s Alan David Picasso could be made by Top Rank on May 3 in Las Vegas, as the focal point of Cinco de Mayo. Inoue-Picasso would replace Saul “Canelo” Alvarez-William Scull, which will instead be staged in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on the same date.
“We’d love him to come to the US at some point in the first half of 2025,” Jacobs said of Inoue. “No details are forthcoming at the moment. Still talks; discussions; venues; opponents; all that kind of stuff.
“I think a fight like [Junto Nakatani, in the future, regardless] maybe has to go back to Japan.
“The fans who are interested in [Inoue in 2025] will understand it’s probably a once-in-a-career opportunity to see the guy, unless they’re going to get on a plane and go to the other side of the world to see him in Japan. So I do think he would sell out and do a big number in Vegas or New York or wherever he would wind up fighting.”