DELRAY BEACH, Florida -- Jared Anderson sits in a chair and laughs as SugarHill Steward wraps his hands at the Delray Beach Boxing gym, about 55 miles north of Miami.
Anderson just finished shadowboxing and is now ready for eight rounds of sparring with three different fighters. The 24-year-old turned pro almost five years ago and through 17 fights and his entire amateur career he was trained by childhood coach Darrie Riley.
Ahead of his first genuine litmus test, America's top heavyweight hopeful's corner is led by Steward, a disciple of the Kronk school of boxing, the famed Detroit gym where his uncle, Hall of Fame trainer Emanuel Steward, guided some of the best fighters ever.
Today, the younger Steward trains former heavyweight lineal champion Tyson Fury and now Anderson, who is looking to reach those same heights. He stands out among the next generation of heavyweights jockeying to replace the old guard led by Fury, Oleksandr Usyk, Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder (all 35 or older before 2024 is over).
Anderson (17-0, 15 KOs) is a talented boxer, a switch-hitter with power and speed. He also possesses prototypical size for a heavyweight with his muscular 6-foot-4, 252-pound frame. He has shown improvement with every fight over the years, and there's a lot riding on Anderson's ability to reach the top level.
What Anderson lacks is a top-notch victory that proves he's more than just USA's latest hope in a long line of heavyweights who failed in their quest to reach boxing's top prize. "The Real Big Baby" Anderson can make serious inroads toward his goal with a convincing victory over Martin Bakole -- his first ESPN-rated heavyweight opponent -- on Saturday in Los Angeles (ESPN+ PPV, 6 p.m. ET).
Anderson is just a -220 favorite, per ESPN BET, to claim victory in a serious step-up fight against a fellow contender (Anderson is ESPN's No. 8 heavyweight; Bakole is No. 10).
"Everybody's time is different," former three-division champion Terence Crawford, who fights in Saturday's main event, told ESPN. "Some fighters you can fast track. Some fighters you want to mold and you want them to work their way up and keep developing. You just don't want to put 'em out there and ruin them."
Anderson has feasted on opponents picked to help him develop. Even his toughest foe, flash-in-the-pan former heavyweight titleholder Charles Martin, was a major underdog against Anderson last summer.
Bakole (20-1, 15 KOs) is a different story. The 31-year-old from the Democratic Republic of Congo moves especially well for such a big man (6-foot-6, 285 pounds), is a fluid puncher and throws with volume. He already ended one promising heavyweight's undefeated run when he upset Olympic gold medalist Tony Yoka in May 2022.
Turki Alalshikh, the chairman of Saudi Arabia's General Entertainment Authority, stepped in to match Anderson with the sort of opponent that could truly test him. And Alalshikh put the fight on the Crawford-Ismail Madrimov pay-per-view card, adding pressure on the young fighter to deliver. (Top Rank was looking to match Anderson with Jermaine Franklin this month in Anderson's native Toledo, Ohio, sources said.)
Alalshikh has made a sizable commitment to boxing since October but especially to the sport's glamour division, the heavyweights. And with such a tough fight on Anderson's hands, Alalshikh urged Anderson to meet with Steward in Las Vegas to see if they could work together.
Alalshikh clearly has taken a special interest in Anderson, and the fighter believes he knows why.
"He has a very good eye for boxing," Anderson told ESPN last month following his sparring session. "I think he's been watching it for a while. He's obsessed with heavyweights, man. ...
"He wanted [a matchup] that was going to take me to the next level, give me the props that I deserve. ... This is just the fight to really certify where I'm at as a heavyweight in this division and show people that I'm here."
ANDERSON FIRST CAUGHT the attention of Steward in the lead-up to Fury's rematch with Wilder in February 2020.
Anderson was a 2-0, 20-year-old prospect when he was welcomed to Fury's training camp to help him prepare for Wilder, the last American to enjoy a lengthy run as heavyweight champion.
"He was eager to learn," Steward said. "He's the only one that wanted to do more out of everybody."
At every camp, Fury and Steward evaluate and discuss which of the heavyweight sparring partners will find success. They both agreed Anderson was destined to make it.
"He has a certain characteristic that Tyson Fury has, and that's what me and Tyson picked up on: He's going to try you," Steward said. "It don't matter who you are. He don't care. ... If you call him out, he's going to answer that. ... And if you get one on him, he want to get it back on you.
" ... There's something in him that just keeps pushing him. He ain't no quitter. And there's a lot of quitters in boxing, or people who don't really take it as serious as they should."
Fury and Wilder fought to a draw in their first meeting. In the rematch -- Fury and Steward's first camp together -- the British fighter stopped Wilder in Round 7 to end the American's heavyweight title reign for good.
Ever since, boxing has lacked an American champion in its glamour division. It all almost came full circle as Alalshikh revealed plans in April to match Anderson with Wilder on Saturday.
Those designs for the crossroads fight were spoiled when Zhilei Zhang brutally knocked out Wilder on June 1 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. And that opened the door for Bakole, regarded as a tougher fight for Anderson than Wilder at this stage of their careers.
"I was hoping and banking on it because it would've been a great American fight," Anderson said of the planned bout with Wilder. "It would've given me a lot more credit. I think a lot more people would have wanted to see that fight just because of the name. But in the back of my head, I kind of knew that it would be somebody else."
And while Anderson has impressed Steward, Fury and others with his work ethic, his focus on boxing has been called into question.
Earlier this year, he was charged with third-degree felony fleeing a police officer after Huron Township (Michigan) police said Anderson led them on a 6-plus-mile chase with speeds exceeding 130 mph in his orange Dodge Challenger.
The chase ended when he crashed into a median the afternoon of Feb. 29, just six weeks before his April decision win over Ryad Merhy. Anderson was in training camp in Toledo when the arrest took place. He pleaded guilty to a reduced, misdemeanor charge May 30 that resulted in 18 months' probation.
In November, Anderson was arrested in Ohio and charged with improperly handling firearms in a vehicle while knowingly under the influence and operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
"I'm human. I'm 24. Everybody makes mistakes," Anderson told ESPN in March. "It's not going to be my last mistake. I hope it's my last mistake that involves me being arrested. ... I'm looked upon by many, whether I like it or not, which I really don't, but ... I have to be a better role model. ... It's a lesson learned, so just take away from it and keep pushing forward."
BRYANT JENNINGS RECALLS only bits and pieces of April 25, 2015. That was the day he sought to ascend to the heavyweight throne with a fight against Hall of Famer Wladimir Klitschko at New York's Madison Square Garden.
Jennings was almost 26 when he made his debut, an exceptionally advanced age to start boxing professionally. The boxer from Philadelphia made noise quickly, though, and eventually was heading cards on NBC network. Hype was building around the latest hope from the U.S. to become heavyweight champion.
When Jennings met the all-time great heavyweight, he was 19-0. And he acquitted himself well against Klitschko even in defeat, lasting the distance in spirited fashion with a fighter who scored 53 KOs in his career. In the following fight eight months later, Jennings was TKO'd by Luis Ortiz, essentially ending any hope of winning the heavyweight championship.
All these years later, Anderson is charting his own path toward the same goal.
"Jared is definitely the future of boxing," Jennings, who ends a five-year layoff Aug. 24, told ESPN.
Jennings' advice to Anderson as someone who can relate to the pressure he's facing: "Don't worry about any critics."
"It's really a different era," Jennings said. " ... Put all your time in right now, put all your energy in it right now and just keep getting better and better and better. Focus. Take care of yourself. Stay out of the dumb s---."
Anderson is clearly talented, but many questions remain. How is his chin? What about his heart? What happens when the going gets tough? Bakole is there to provide some answers, affording Anderson an opportunity to prove he's a legitimate threat to win the heavyweight crown someday.
"It's a dangerous fight," Alalshikh told ESPN. "This is the first exam. ... All the top heavyweights, their average age is 35, 37. Jared can easily be the next [heavyweight champion] and stay the next [champ] for the next seven to 10 years ... if he focuses on himself and passes the exam."
Anderson vows to exit the sport by age 28, and if he sticks to his timeline to retire from boxing, there isn't much time for patience.
"I have love for the sport," Anderson said. "That does not mean I like being here. ... I didn't start this in the beginning for no reason, but the love that I found in it was through the brotherhood and actually being around the people that I care about, people that I made relationships with and that taught me things that [we're] not just here to work or do a job. ...
"I care more about having everything I have after boxing. ... I care more about spending time with my family. I miss the hell out of my dog right now. I miss my mom. ... I know deep down inside that I don't want to do this for long."