Boxing awaits to see who boxing’s current heavyweight king is.
An original date of December 23 for WBC champion Tyson Fury to collide with IBF, WBA and WBO unified titlist Oleksandr Usyk has been now pushed back to next year.
Both champions are in their mid-thirties coming into the latter stages of their careers. Boxing casts its eye over the next wave of heavyweights in search of the division's future kings as all reigns ultimately come to an end.
Ranked within the top eight of all governing bodies sits Toledo’s 23-year-old American Jared Anderson. The undefeated Top Rank contender has been labeled as a future star for the division, the momentum of fanfare slowing down a tad after a unanimous-decision win over former world champion Charles Martin. However, the young contenders only blemish on his 16-0 record is not maintaining a 100 percent knockout ratio.
“I just keep being me, it is the only thing I can do.” Anderson said in an exclusive interview for ProBox TV. “I have to be myself and do it to the best of my ability. I’m so happy that everybody has got high hopes for me, but I got high hopes for myself [too] and I plan to exceed your hopes and mine.”
Anderson rounded off 2023 with a fifth round knockout victory over Ukrainian veteran Andrii Rudenko to find himself ranked in second place for current champion Oleksandr Usyk.
Anderson’s rise has come at a time when undisputed title fights are all the rage. The Ohio native gave his view on one day having All the Belts.
“I don’t care, not even a little bit.” Anderson stated. “I care about making money, providing for my family, and letting people know I’m going to be me until the end.”
An undisputed title fight between Usyk and Fury will now experience some turbulence due to numerous governing bodies laws. However, with the money pouring into boxing from the Middle East, those hurdles have been significantly lowered as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia experiences a radical change in culture, using boxing as one of its tools.
“Me personally, I think it would be great to have an undisputed champion.” Anderson continued. “We haven’t had an undisputed champion since Lennox Lewis. It would be great to have another undisputed champion show us the ropes again. Start that back up again for heavyweights, not just the lighter weights like welterweight or flyweight. It would be great to have that fight happen, but if it doesn’t I won’t be mad. I think they are both great fighters and both had great careers. They are both pretty much at the end of it, so if they don’t want to take the risk at having another loss on their record, I’m not mad at them but I'm not the fans.”
