Jared Anderson got back to winning after his loss to Martin Bakole, but his performance in victory Friday night didn’t impress everyone at his promotional company.
“If [Anderson] don’t want it, he ain’t gonna get it,” posted Bruce Trampler, a matchmaker with Top Rank who was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2010. “Today looked like all the people at Top Rank worked harder for him than he worked for himself.”
The 25-year-old Anderson won a unanimous decision over the 12-3-1 Marios Kollias while buried deep on Friday’s preliminary undercard on ESPN+, only the second fight out of the gate on a show headlined by Denys Berinchyk-Keyshawn Davis at The Theater at Madison Square Garden. He is now 18-1 (15 KOs).
In a since-deleted post on X, either Anderson or someone with his team responded to Trampler with three tears-of-joy emojis and three words: “this is hilarious.”
Trampler, needless to say, was not amused himself.
“Hilarious? Nobody’s laughing,” Trampler replied. “You can be world champ if you truly want it. Sad if you don’t realize your potential and give it your best effort. But that’s up to you, champ. We still love you.”
Anderson’s struggles with mental health, as well as questions about his development in the boxing ring, were evident prior to his loss to Bakole.
In the summer of 2023, ahead of his fight with the former heavyweight titleholder Charles Martin, Anderson spoke with Roy Jones Jnr for a feature segment on ESPN.
“My toughest fight is outside the ring,” Anderson told Jones. “My hardest fight so far in life [is] just staying the course and trying to stay true to who I am, but keeping a steady, clear mind to the top.
“I know I’m good at this and I know I can have fun in this, but this might not just be what completely makes me happy,” Anderson said to Jones at another point.
Jones responded by talking about Anderson’s obligation to succeed and how he would let people down if he quit.
“But it’s the pressure, though,” Anderson responded, tears in his eyes and emotion in his voice. “I’m 23.”
Jones: “Sometimes there’s a lot put on us, but it’s put on us because we’re the ones that can take it. Jared may not think he can sometimes. Jared may get messed up sometimes. But Jared can wear these shoes. That’s why Jared has it.”
Anderson: “But Jared ain’t ask for it.”
Anderson took some unfair mocking for this segment, especially given the “Big Baby” nickname he’s long had. Yet there was cause for concern that perhaps Anderson is approaching this as his job – and that perhaps begrudgingly continuing with his career could hamper the potential he otherwise had.
He struggled a bit against Martin, who was a late replacement opponent in that bout in July 2023. Anderson scored a legit-but-flash knockdown in the third round. Two rounds later, Martin had Anderson hurt and reeling. Anderson was able to recover and took a wide decision victory. Anderson was then back in the ring less than two months later, dispatching Andrii Rudenko in five rounds in late August 2023.
But then there was an arrest in November 2023 that started with a traffic stop for speeding and led to accusations of Anderson driving under the influence and a firearms charge. The following February, he allegedly led police on a chase that ended with Anderson crashing his car.
After the loss to Bakole, Top Rank head Bob Arum said the company’s team would work to rebuild Anderson.
“He’s still a very talented young man,” Arum told boxing reporter Dan Rafael last year. “He’s very young. Bruce [Trampler] and Brad [Goodman] are great matchmakers, working with Carl Moretti [the company’s vice president of operations], and they’ll find a way to bring him back.”
They got the first win back for Anderson. But it’s fair to say that Top Rank, or at least Trampler, isn’t overly optimistic about what could come next.
