By: Sean Crose

Undefeated 16-0 heavyweight Jared “Big Baby” Anderson returned to the ring for the first time since August on Saturday. His opponent at the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, Texas was the 32-2 Ryad Merhy. The fight, which was scheduled for ten, was the main event of an ESPN broadcast Top Rank card. The truth was that the favorite Anderson needed to impress in order to reinvigorate a career that had been tarnished by a felony charge stemming from a high speed chase with police in March. An upset loss to Merhy might prove to be devastating.

Anderson was aggressive right from the opening bell. Merhy, however, remained rather inactive throughout the first round, perhaps in a quest to bide his time. Meanwhile, Anderson proceeded to attack his man by firing off a long jab. The second saw Merhy zip off a powerful left. Yet he spent the vast majority of the round trying to avoid Anderson’s fists. So inert was Merhy in the early part of the third that it was worth wondering if he would do anything meaningful at all. Anderson, on the other hand, continued to work on Merhy with straight, solid shots.

There wasn’t much to say about the fourth round, as Merhy simply wouldn’t throw but a small handful of punches. The broadcast teams’ Tim Bradley went so far as to refer to Merhy as “a human punching bag.” The crowd, naturally, continued to boo, as it had been doing by that point for several rounds. Whatever Merhy’s plans were, by the fifth it was evident that they didn’t include winning – or perhaps even fighting. While it was true, Merhy was looking for a perfect moment to land, he had remained essentially inactive throughout the fight up until that point.

The sixth saw Merhy try to rope a dope his man with little success. Meanwhile, Anderson continued to throw and land. Merhy continued doing little to nothing in the seventh. “I never want to see Merhy again,” Bradley said in the eighth, “ever.” It was easy to see why, though Merhy did land a couple of sharp body shots. Merhy remained lackadaisical in the ninth. It was hard to imagine Anderson not being frustrated by his opponent’s inertia. Merhy finally decided to fight in the tenth and final round, though it was way too little, way too late.

Anderson walked away with a unanimous decision win.

*Images: Top Rank

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