Undefeated heavyweight contender Jared Anderson headlines ESPN bout in Corpus Christi

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (KTRK) -- Corpus Christi, let's get ready to rumble!

Undefeated rising heavyweight sensation Jared "The Real Big Baby" Anderson headlines a 10-round attraction at the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, Texas, on Saturday night.

Anderson, 24, trains out of Houston and boasts a professional boxing record of 16-0, all but one were knockout victories. The unbeaten heavyweight contender takes on his adversary Ryad Merhy (32-2, 26 KOs) on Saturday.

Saturday's bout will be Anderson's first professional fight in the Lone Star State. As for Merhy, the bout will be his first on U.S. soil.

At Friday's weigh-in, Anderson weighed in at 250.9 pounds, while Merhy was listed at 235.6 pounds.

Anderson, a Toledo, Ohio native, is coming off a nine-month layoff from the sport. His most recent bout was on Aug. 26, 2023, when he put on a boxing clinic with a fifth-round TKO victory over journeyman Andriy Rudenko.

In the upper echelon of boxing's plethora of heavyweights, the two elite names that stick out include unified WBO, IBF, and WBA champion Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury, who is the WBC titleholder. In fact, Usyk and Fury are set for a collision course for the undisputed heavyweight championship on May 18 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Yet for Anderson, he yearns for eventual fights with the cream of the crop. But first, he will need to get past Merhy to solidify a top-10 position in each of boxing's four major sanctioning bodies.

In the boxing world, the Toledo native has been deemed the next face of the heavyweight division. That being said, Anderson looks to make a statement in one of boxing's glamour divisions in order to reach his dreams of becoming a world champion.

You can catch the boxing match on ABC13's sister network, ESPN, on Saturday at 9 p.m.