By: Sean Crose
Unbeaten 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 is Ryad Merhy with a score of 32-2. The fight, scheduled for 10 p.m., is the main event of a Top Rank card airing on ESPN. The truth is that the popular Anderson needs to impress to revive a career tarnished by a felony charge stemming from a high-speed chase with police in March. The unpleasant loss of Merhy could be devastating.
Anderson proactively attacked right from the opening bell. However, Merhy remained quite passive throughout the first round, perhaps waiting for his opportunity. Meanwhile, Anderson continued to attack his men by firing a long jab. The second saw Merhy dive strongly to his left. However, he spent most of the round trying to avoid Anderson’s punches. Merhy was so inert at the start of the third that it was worth wondering whether he was going to do anything meaningful. On the other hand, Anderson continued to attack Merhy with straight, solid shots.
There wasn’t much to say about the fourth round, as Merhy simply didn’t throw and just threw a few small punches. Tim Bradley of the broadcast team went so far as to call Merhy “a human punching bag.” Naturally, the crowd continued to boo, as it had done for many rounds up to that point. Whatever Merhy’s plans were, by day five it became clear that they did not include victory – or perhaps even fighting. While it’s true that Merhy was looking for the perfect moment to land, he remained essentially inactive throughout the fight up to that point.
The sixth saw Merhy try to outwit his man with little success. Meanwhile, Anderson continued to throw and land grounders. Merhy continued to do nothing in the seventh. “I never want to see Merhy again,” Bradley says in part eight, “ever.” It’s easy to see why, though Merhy landed a few sharp shots to the body. Merhy remained indecisive in the ninth. It’s hard to imagine Anderson not being discouraged by his opponent’s inertia. Merhy finally decided to fight in the tenth and final round, although it was too little, too late.
Anderson walked away with a unanimous decision victory.
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