Anderson posts 10-round unanimous-decision victory over Martin - ESPN

Jared Anderson, arguably boxing's most promising young heavyweight, went the distance for the first time in his career with a 10-round unanimous-decision victory over former titleholder Charles Martin on Saturday in Toledo, Ohio.

The judges turned in scorecards that read 98-91, 99-90 and 99-90.

Anderson, a 23-year-old native of Toledo, was competing in his first ESPN main event in his toughest test yet. He accepted the Martin assignment on 12 days' notice after original opponent Zhan Kossobutskiy was forced to withdraw with visa issues. And Anderson (15-0, 14 KOs) was forced to survive some rocky moments.

The 6-foot-4, 243.5-pound Anderson floored Martin in Round 3 with a jab from the southpaw stance but never came close to finishing him off. Martin, a 37-year-old from St. Louis, rebounded to stun Anderson in the final minute of Round 5 with a flurry of punches.

Martin was also able to buckle Anderson in the closing seconds of the fight, but it was far too late by that juncture after he lost virtually every round besides the fifth.

«I wanted to go the distance; it was my first time,» said Anderson, who fights out of Houston. «I just wanted to make sure that I could go the distance and especially be able to withstand power the whole 10 rounds. He had power until the last round, and I was happy to get the rounds in.»

The fight marked the first time in Anderson's pro career that he lost a single round and was also his first time hearing the bell for Round 7.

Anderson didn't deliver the sort of explosive performance he's become known for, especially in his last two fights, where he put the heavyweight division on notice as a potential future champion. But he did gain valuable experience against a heavyweight gatekeeper.

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