Jared Anderson return bumped up to July 16

The Bubble is weird. For instance, heavyweight prospect Jared Anderson was supposed to fight this past Thursday, making a quick turnaround from his last bout on June 9, but then his opponent tested for elevated testosterone levels, and the bout was called off.

It was then rescheduled when the opponent tested clean and clear, with July 21 the new target date. And now, it’s been bumped to July 16, meaning the 20-year-old “Real Big Baby” from Toledo will be on this Thursday’s ESPN show.

Anderson (4-0, 4 KO) had to go past the first round for the first time as a pro in June, but he stopped Johnnie Langston in three and didn’t take any punishment, or at least nothing significant, so he’s good to go.

His opponent will, at least I think, still be Hector Perez (7-2, 3 KO), who beat Juan Torres on Top Rank’s June 16 show.

Thursday’s card has been kinda quiet from Top Rank, but we do know that lightweight Felix Verdejo (26-1, 16 KO) will face Will Madera (15-0-3, 8 KO), and the ESPN.com schedule lists Mark John Yap (30-15, 15 KO) as the opponent for featherweight Miguel Marriaga (29-3, 25 KO). It’s not the best card, but the schedule has been somewhat in disarray thanks to various factors — injury, COVID, Jarrell Miller, etc. The July 16 event was originally meant to be headlined by Eleider Alvarez vs Joe Smith Jr, easily one of the best fights Top Rank had lined up, but that’s been postponed until late August.