Was he hurt? Or was Jared Anderson simply playing possum?

From the outside looking in, it appeared as though Charles Martin had Anderson exactly where he wanted him. Although Anderson dominated for long stretches, Martin landed countless left hands in the fifth, many of which seemed to buzz Anderson. In the final round, Martin closed his eyes and fired another left hand in the last few seconds. Anderson, ostensibly, didn’t like the feel of it. He desperately backed onto the ropes and attempted to hold until the final bell.

Ultimately, Anderson pulled out a clear and somewhat one-sided decision. Still, even with the Ohio native keeping his perfect record intact, those who were watching are convinced that Martin wobbled him several times. Anderson though, disagrees wholeheartedly.

“I feel like I started great,” said Anderson to FightHype.com as he looked back on his win. “I do feel like I fell asleep. I got bored in the middle rounds. That’s when I got hit. When I did get hit by the shot, people will scream all day long, they think I was hurt. I was never hurt in that fight but he did catch me with a good shot.”

What took place in his last outing isn’t important at this point. Later on tonight, at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the lessons Anderson took from his Martin performance will be used when he takes on Andrii Rudenko.

The Russian journeyman is tough and durable but his career has seen better days. With a record of just 4-4 in his last 8, Anderson is widely expected to pick up the win. For the 23-year-old, victory, at least in his mind, is essentially a guarantee. But pushing his win streak to 16 isn’t good enough. After having a few shaky moments against Martin, Anderson is anxious to prove that he’s new and improved.

“We went back to the drawing board and I feel like we fixed a lot of things. Things are gonna look a lot smoother.”