Jared Anderson Down But Not Out After Shock Knockout Loss To Martin Bakole
Jared Anderson should take heart from the many heavyweight greats that came before him who suffered shock knockout defeats and used the setbacks to forge legendary careers.
Wladimir Klitschko dominated the division for a generation but not before a couple of stunning stoppage losses to Corrie Sanders and Lamon Brewster. Lennox Lewis was knocked out in the second round by Oliver McCall and still went on to become the unified heavyweight champion.
David Haye, one of the greatest cruiserweights of all time, was stopped by Carl Thompson, before unifying the division and winning a world title at heavyweight. Even the great Joe Louis was stopped by Max Schmeling before becoming one of the greatest heavyweight champions in history.
Whether Anderson does or doesn’t go on to eventually emulate the greats of the past is beside the point; the point is, that there’s a long list of heavyweight fighters who went on to achieve great things having suffered untimely defeats. They used their defeats to learn and improve, instead of letting the losses define their careers. It’s what helped turn them into champions.
Anderson now faces a pivotal moment in his own career because Saturday’s loss to Martin Bakole in Los Angeles was a savage, one-sided beatdown; the sort of whooping that has the potential to completely derail a career, similar to Joe Joyce’s back-to-back losses to Zhilei Zhang last year.
Bakole Dominated Anderson
From the first bell until the bout’s conclusion in the fifth round, Bakole had Anderson’s number. The Congolese fighter landed with accuracy and bone-crunching power, easily walked down his smaller, lighter, more mobile opponent, and absorbed the American’s shots with not so much as a flinch.
Anderson never fully recovered from the first knockdown when a flush right hand to the head was followed by a clubbing combination that sent him sprawling to the canvas in the opening round. He took further punishment in the third round, eating several big right hands and a heavy uppercut.
Eventually, the punishment took its toll in the fifth when Bakole fired off four or five unanswered punches and the accumulation of sent Anderson down again. A sharp right hand then sent the ‘Real Big Baby’ rebounding into the ropes and onto the canvas for a third time.
He rose to his feet and was told by the referee Jerry Cantu “one more time”; he was true to his word, waving off the fight moments later following another assault from Bakole.
There were so many instances throughout the fight that demonstrated Anderson’s lack of experience and how much room for improvement there is to fulfill his obvious potential.
Anderson Lacked Experience
For instance, any professional boxer knows to use all the available time to recover from an impactful knockdown, but an experienced pro has the composure to do it in the moment while the brain is scrambled and the crowd is going wild. Anderson sprang to his feet after the first two knockdowns when he really needed those combined 20 seconds to recompose himself.
As for his strategy, Anderson lacked any backup options or alternatives, failing to make the necessary adjustments to try and trouble Bakole in different ways. Instead, he continued to stand in front of the bigger and stronger man and trade, and he failed to use his movement to get out of his opponent’s range.
Perhaps Anderson, and more importantly his experienced team, failed to adequately prepare for Bakole, both mentally and strategically. The Ohio fighter’s career had been such a cakewalk up to this point, perhaps they thought Bakole would be just another victim on his stampede through the division.
Once again, this is where his lack of experience was exposed. As soon as he discovered Bakole was not just another journeyman, that his punches carried power he’d not felt before, Anderson didn’t know how to respond because he’d never previously been in that position.
Learning More From Defeat Than Victory
There was also an apparent lack of focus during fight week. Of course, boxers are inherently self-confident and in some cases, like Anderson, brash self-promoters and extroverts. But the dancing on stage and the attempted side-bets with Eddie Hearn portrayed a fighter not fully engaged.
However, this loss needn’t be a significant long-term setback for Anderson, who is still only 24 years old. In fact, there is a huge amount he will learn from this to make him a much better and smarter fighter and prepare him for the upper tier of the division.
“I made some of the same mistakes I’ve been making,” Anderson said. “I did not come here to lose. I lost. I have to stop pulling back. I made the same mistakes. The worst thing I did was not listen to my corner. He was strong as s—t. I can’t be mad. I’m going home to my daughter.”
Once family time is over, Anderson will have a fantastic opportunity to learn more from his fight against Bakole in defeat than he might’ve done in victory.
