CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — On Saturday night in Texas, Jared Anderson defeated Ryad Merhy by majority decision to win the heavyweight bout. The 24-year-old prevailed by unanimous decision in the ten-round fight, scoring victories of 100-90, 100-90, and 99-91.
Merhy (32-3, 26 KOs) threw just 144 punches during the bout, choosing to fight from a position of non-engagement. Anderson(17-0, 15 KOs), however, entered the bout with an aggressive approach and connected on 128 of 662 punches, including 49 power strikes.
“Another day, another night in the office. I wanted to give the fans a better show, but what can you do when they show up to fight like him. It’s just another day in the office. We’re going to continue working,” said Anderson in media reports.
“I stayed sharp for 10 rounds. That’s the biggest takeaway. I got to make some changes. I made some mistakes. I got hit with a few punches. I shouldn’t have gotten hit at all because he didn’t even come here to fight,” he added.
“I want all of the names. If I’m ranked with you and your name is near mine, then we can get it crackin’. We’re coming to knock everybody off,” he continued.
Gervonta Davis disregarded the bout, referring to it as a “weak” match-up. Playing it cautious for his 10-round main event at the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, Texas, Anderson kept it dull.
“A weak-a** heavyweight. I turned it off,” said Gervonta Davis in a post on X.
From the second round on, the crowd jeered both competitors, but it didn’t really inspire either heavyweight to put up some effort. With a terrified expression, Anderson released his grip on Merhy, who was not hurling anything. The purpose of this bout was merely to set up Anderson’s promoters for this abomination, and it exploded in their faces.
Where was Merhy found by Top Rank? He looked horrible in his awfulness. Merhy’s 2023 12-round unanimous decision loss against Kevin Lerena raised a red signal for me. It’s impossible, yet they took this person out of a recycling bin and utilized him to make Anderson look good.
