Jared Anderson In Reach of World Title Shot and Big Names
When last engaged in combat, heavyweight contender Jared “Big Baby” Anderson (16-0, 15 KO’s) stopped overmatched Andrii Rudenko in five rounds. With that assignment completed, the question now becomes: what’s next for the #2 (WBO), #5 (IBF) and #6 (WBC) ranked fighter?
There was budding interest in a duel between Anderson and Jarrell Miller, but that event greatly deflated after Miller’s recent shutout loss to “Dynamite” Daniel Dubois (20-2, 19 KO’s). Yet, as it often is with the swiftly shifting sands in boxing, now a prizefight pitting Big Baby against Dubois is a fun and meaningful bout. The twice defeated Dubois has earned himself the respectable standings of #7 (WBA), #8 (WBO), #8 (IBF) and #14 (WBC).
If he caught Dubois now, Anderson would get him while he has a buzz and Big Baby can begin expanding his brand into the UK market. On paper, this has the makings of a good technical fight that should provide sufficient action. Assuming that Big Baby won, he might not get full credit since Dubois is still trying to shed the reputation that he is a quitter.
BIG BANG OR THE BOMBER?!
While he is coming off a loss, Big Baby would do well to secure a bout with one-time WBC heavyweight champion Deontay “The Bronze Bomber” Wilder (43-3-1, 42 KO’s). After spending virtually two-years out of the ring, Wilder dropped a sad and listless defeat to former WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker. Even with the loss, and two prior defeats to Tyson Fury, Wilder would still be the biggest name on his resume by leaps and bounds.
Perhaps the most meaningful duel that Anderson could secure is with WBO interim heavyweight champion Zhilei “Big Bang” Zhang (26-1-1, 21 KO’s). Zhang is riding high on two back-to-back victories over UK slugger Joe Joyce. Obviously while secondary, if Anderson contracted and won this duel, he would capture his first piece of professional hardware. If willing to go the Devin Haney route, Big Baby could potentially travel to China and try to pack out a major venue there.
Given that unified champion Oleksandr Usyk and WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury have all the major hardware tied up in their upcoming duel, we will have to see how the rest of these fighters line up. Hopefully though, we will see some great match-ups soon, and ideally we will see Big Baby in one of the above showdowns.
