Unbeaten American heavyweight Jared Anderson will make a swift return to the ring to take on Andriy Rudenko at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Tulsa on 26th August.
Anderson is rated as a top heavy-hitting prospect and Big Baby strengthened his reputation with a unanimous decision victory over former world champion Charles Martin in July.
Rudenko has been in with some big heavyweight names in Lucas Browne, Hughie Fury, Alexander Povetkin, Agit Kabayel, Zhilei Zhang and Vladyslav Sirenko, but the Ukrainian has been beaten by all of those opponents and, at the age of 39, there is unlikely to be any improvement from the Dnipro dueller.
Anderson is back in the ring after less than a two month break, but this does look a step down in class from the Martin fight and the Ohio puncher is likely to take another step up the rankings.
Here is everything you need to know ahead of the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino contest.
What | Jared Anderson v Andriy Rudenko |
Where | Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Tulsa, Oklahoma |
When | Saturday, 26th August, 2023 |
How to watch | Sky Sports |
The 10-round heavyweight contest is set to take place on Saturday 26th August 2023.
The main card is set to get underway at 22:30 UK time. Ringwalks for the main event are scheduled for 03:30, which means a late night for fight fans and exact timings will depend on the duration of the undercard contests.
The contest will take place at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Part of the Hard Rock franchise, the venue hosts World Series of Poker events and various music and entertainment gatherings.
Numerous boxing contests have been held at the Tulsa setting, including Robson Conceicao v Xavier Martinez and Robeisy Ramirez’s clash with Isaac Dogboe.
The 10-round contest between Anderson and Rudenko will be shown live on Sky Sports Main Event & Arena in the UK. The fight will be broadcast in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Anderson is the WBC USA and WBO international heavyweight champion, but those belts will not be on the line for the clash with Big Baby’s Ukrainian opponent.
The 23-year-old defeated former world champion Martin in his latest bout and the Ohio man is ranked seventh in the world by the WBO and ninth in the world by the WBC.
Rudenko has been in with some big heavyweight names, but the 39-year-old doesn’t hold any titles at this stage of his career.
Anderson has won all of his 15 professional fights, with 14 of those victories coming by stoppage. The only decision win came against former world champion Charles Martin last time out, but Big Baby did have Martin on the canvas in that contest and the Ohio man is certainly a hot prospect.
The 23-year-old also has a good second-round stoppage victory over the durable Jerry Forrest on his card and bigger things await Anderson.
If anything this contest against Rudenko looks a step down in class and, from what we have seen, Big Baby should be getting the Ukrainian out before the final bell.
Rudenko has mixed it with some big-hitters in the heavyweight division and the Ukrainian has shared a ring with Lucas Browne, Hughie Fury, Alexander Povetkin, Agit Kabayel, Zhilei Zhang, and Vladyslav Sirenko to name a few.
The 39-year-old was beaten by all of those fighters, but there are 35 victories on the Dnipro dueller’s card.
Rudenko has only been stopped once in his professional career, that came against the highly-rated Sirenko in 2021, but durability may be wearing thin at this stage of his career.
Efe Ajagba will take on unbeaten Zhan Kossobutskiy in a 10-round co-feature event. Olympic gold medalist Bakhodir Jalolov is also on the card.
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