Top Rank and most boxing observers, including myself, have been throwing accolades at Jared Anderson and he's looked the part with each knockout win but even to me, I wondered about how he would take a punch after watching veteran Jerry Forrest, the best fighter Anderson has faced, stun Anderson in the first round before Anderson took Forrest out in the second.
Anderson suddenly has questions to answer but yet answered others in his unanimous decision win over former IBF champion Charles Martin.
Anderson won almost every round, winning 99-90 (times two and my score) and 98-91 on the official cards, and knocked Martin down in the third round with a short right hand but there are still a few flaws.
Anderson didn't hurt Martin as Martin got right back up off the mat and it was Martin seriously battering Anderson around the ring in the fifth round and had the prospect badly hurt.
The good news for Anderson was he took punches from Martin well enough to survive and avoid the knockdown.
The bad news for Anderson was that he was so badly rocked by Charles Martin, who wouldn't be confused as a hard puncher with Wilder, Joshua, Fury, or even Usyk, so it's now fair game to wonder just how good is Jared Anderson's chin?
However, Anderson did prove his fortitude because he could have packed it in against Martin, and a pretender would have done just that but Anderson stayed upright, rode out the storm, and won the rest of the rounds.
I'm not quite as sure about Jared Anderson as I had been before this fight but I am pretty sure of this- he's going to grit out as much as he can when he fights the next opponent that battles back.
In Germany, the IBF middleweight title that Gennady Golovkin gave up has a new owner and it's a surprising one as Vincenzo Gualtieri upset Esquiva Falcao by unanimous decision in an ugly and foul-filled affair.
Gualtieri knocked down Falcao in round two and again in round ten, although that knockdown was due to a low blow that the referee errantly called a knockdown.
Falcao was hit low throughout the fight including once in round eight which had the Brazilian writhing in pain on the canvas as the fight was delayed for Falcao to recover.
Falcao did very well in the middle round before the low punch and it seemed to me that the foul took a lot from Falcao (understandably so) as Gualtieri swept the rounds after the foul.
While I wondered about Falcao's chances on the scorecards and they were predictably wide for the hometown fighter at 116-110 (times two ) and 117-111, I had Gualtieri winning by a closer margin at 115-111 (7-5 and two knockdowns), so this wasn't your typical German robbery.
Still, if you want the IBF middleweight title, you better be ready to fight there to get it- and you may want to be prepared to go for the knockout.
On Sunday from South Africa, Sivenathi Nontshinga defended his IBF light flyweight title for the first time with a unanimous decision win over mandatory challenger Regie Suganob.
Nontshinga looked like he was going to build off his exciting title win over Hector Torres when he exploded a huge right hand off Suganob's chin to drop the challenger late in the first round, when Suganob rose from the floor, and the bell rang.
That was pretty much as good as the fight would be as Nontshinga decided to box from the outside and cautiously counterpunch the only occasionally effective charges from Suganob.
Nontshinga won on two cards at 116-111 and the other at 117-110, I scored Nontshinga a 116-111 winner.
It was disappointing to see Nontshinga fight so cautiously after such an exciting introduction to the world scene last year but he retained the title, which is the important thing.
Boxing Challenge
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