Anderson Vs Rudenko: Date, Start Time, Undercard Info

By Brian Webber: Heaavywight Jared Anderson will be fighting 39-year-old journeyman Andriy Rudenko next on August 26th live on ESPN.  The idea of matching Anderson against the power-punching contender Zhan Kossobutskiy has been scrapped for obvious reasons.

It’s certainly a step backward for Anderson to be fighting Rudenko, but he left his promoters with no choice. Anderson needs a lot more improvements before he’s ready for guys like Kossobutskiy, Frank Sanchez, and Arslanbek Makhmudov.

It’s fair to say that Jared would b knocked out by Makhmudov if his promoters pulled the trigger on that fight anytime soon.

Top Rank would have been throwing the badly flawed Jared Anderson to the wolves if they’d put him in with Kossobutskiy as previously planned because he needs more development.

Jared must unlearn pull-back move

Anderson has a pull-back move that he needs to fix because he was getting nailed repeatedly by Charles Martin while using it.

Jared might have learned the pull-back move from his friend lightweight Shakur Stevenson, who does the same thing in his fights. However, with Shakur, he veers left or right if he’s chased by his opponents while pulling back.

Cuban Robeisy Ramirez made Shakur pay for using the pull-back in the 2016 Olympics by quickly following him to nail him with straight lefts and combinations.

So if Jared Anderson wants to go far, he needs to forget about what he learned from Shakur because it’s not working for him, and it might get him knocked out soon when Top Rank puts him in with quality opposition.

Rudenko is a 17-year pro who has faced many well-known fighters during his long career. If we were a decade younger, he would be considered a serious threat to Anderson.

With that said, if Rudenko can connect with his right hand, he’s got enough pop in his punches to finish what Charles Martin started earlier this month when he had Jared out on his feet in the final seconds of their fight.

Technique-wise, Jared isn’t nearly ready for that type of fighter like that, and it would be an insane move to let the Ohio native take on this devastating puncher at this juncture of his career.

This isn’t a surprising move, as the highly touted Top Rank-promoted Anderson (15-0, 14 KOs) was hurt repeatedly by his lt opponent Charles Martin on July 1st.

Mike Coppinger is reporting the news of Anderson fighting Rudenko (35-6, 21 KOs). Anderson vs. Rudenko will headline on ESPN, which will come on after IBF, WBA & WBO heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk’s title defense against Daniel Dubois on ESPN+.

Has Anderson recovered fully?

Obviously, this is a fast return bout for the 6’3″ Anderson, but he didn’t sustain any facial damage in his win over the 37-year-old former IBF heavyweight champion Charles Martin on July 1st.

Perhaps the only thing that was damaged was Anderson’s ego because Martin exposed him pretty well. Anderson was hurt in rounds five, eight, and ten.

Anderson was hurt badly in the tenth round, and we don’t know if his punch resistance was compromised from that left hand that Martin nailed him with.

Rudenko losses

– Alexander Povetkin– Hughie Fury– Zhilei Zhang– Agit Kabayel– Vladyslav Sirenko– Lucas Browne