Jared Anderson vs Ryad Merhy Preview, Undercard, and Fight Time

American Bank Center, Corpus Christi, TX
Sat. April 13th
TopRank on ESPN/ESPN+

JARED ANDERSON VS RYAD MERHY

Jared “Big Baby” Anderson(16-0, 15KOs), from Toledo, Ohio, is fighting for the first time this year after a relatively busy 2023 where he fought 3 times. One of them being his biggest test to date in “Prince” Charles Martin in July, won by UD, and the most recent being against Andrii Rudenko ending in a TKO only a month and some change later in August.

From the moment Anderson was introduced to the world, he has been more or less promoted as the next great American heavyweight. Understandably so, as his athletic ability, fighting instinct, and technical skill have been obvious and promising since the amateurs and have only improved with time as a pro. After some recent controversy outside of the ring, he returns to headline another TopRank card against Ryad Merhy.

Ryad Merhy (32-2, 26KOs) is an Ivory Coast born, Belgian boxer, who has spent the vast majority of his career at cruiserweight. As of late he has been working his way towards the WBC specific Bridgerweight title, though all other organizations still classify them as heavyweight bouts. His most recent being a heavyweight, by all accounts, bout that ended with a split decision upset victory over Frenchman Tony Yoka, giving Yoka his third loss in a row.

Merhy has boxing ability, and throughout his career has shown good timing, punch placement and respectable power, though since he has moved up from cruiser two of the three fights went to the scorecards, perhaps indicating that knockouts are going to be harder to come by against the larger men, which is to be expected. Merhy plans to continue his journey to bridgerweight gold, but first will take a detour with intent to derail the promising career of Jared Anderson.

Dallas’ opinion:

The crown of “next great” sits heavily upon the head of most fighters it is hoisted upon, though Anderson has been adamant that the royal accoutrement is not a factor for him. Some people, organizations and talking-heads seem to take umbrage with Anderson’s discourse, extracurriculars, and how open he is about his feelings towards the sport as a whole and desire to retire early. I, for one, applaud the young man for being honest with himself, and the even more difficult endeavor of being honest with the public. How that affects his career remains to be seen, but as far as this fight goes, it’s Anderson’s to lose.

Merhy is undersized and has not yet shown the power necessary for a one-shot knockout against this size or caliber of opponent. His path towards upset victory, in this instance, is narrow and fraught with danger. That said, this is boxing, and I am but a man capable of being mistaken.

Efe Ajagba VS Guido “the Gladiator” Vianello

Efe Ajagba (19-1, 14KOs), coming off of a TKO victory over Joseph Goodall, started his career as an apparent force of nature. He didn’t need to hear from the judges until his 11th fight as a pro, and to this day has only been bested by one man, the highly skilled Cuban heavyweight, Frank Sanchez. What’s impressive about Ajagba today is not his raw and undeniable power, though it doesn’t hurt, it’s his steady and noticeable improvement in every fight since that loss. He seemingly adds another wrinkle to his game in every training camp, and shows it to the world in every subsequent fight. Ajagba started as a one dimensional power puncher and has evolved into a boxer that thinks and uses an ever improving jab to set up the powerful offense that drew people to him in the first place. The new and improved Ajagba, with room to improve yet, has his heavy-hands full on Saturday when he faces Guido Vianello (12-1-1, 10KOs).

Guido Vianello’s dominant rise in the rankings is not dissimilar to Ajagba’s, they even share more than a couple opponents. Though he also has one loss on his record, his to Johnathan Rice, it came by way of TKO due to a massive cut over the eye, caused by a beautiful right hand from Rice, in a fight Guido was handily winning up to then. He’s tall and has some speed in his hands and feet, relative to most heavyweights, that help him to control distance and pressure his opponents until he sees the openings he needs on the outside. Thus far he seems to be quite a promising prospect/contender but in order to move forward with his career, he’s going to have to get through his toughest test yet in Efe Ajagba.

Dallas’ opinion:

This fight, on paper, is the most even match-up on the card. Two powerful and promising fighters, both still adding tools to their belts and closing holes in their games, while being in similar places in their careers, trying to slow the ascension of their opponent, while quickening their own. It’s got all the ingredients of an exciting show stealer of a fight. As to who will come out victorious, my best guess would be the fans.