Jared Anderson addresses viral ‘pressure’ moment with Roy Jones Jr.: ‘Everybody is banking on me’

Jared Anderson is a 24-year-old boxing sensation widely considered to be the next great hopeful for American heavyweight boxing.

A two-time national champion as an amateur, Anderson carries with him the great weight of expectation, and last year, it looked like he might be crumbling under those expectations when “The Real Big Baby” had a viral moment with boxing Hall of Famer Roy Jones Jr., where he broke into tears while talking about the pressure he’s facing.

Speaking with The MMA Hour, Anderson addressed the moment, speaking candidly about the outside-the-ring pressures he faces as he continues to ascend the heavyweight ranks.

“It was more or less about life itself,” Anderson said. “People always try to make things about just boxing because I’m a boxer, but that is not my life. Yes, I’ve done this almost my entire life. I’ve been doing this since I was eight years old. But boxing is not my life. Every day I walk out of that gym, I have got to go home and face my problems. I’ve got to go home and face what’s going on. I’ve got to go home and face the problems that I have everywhere else. That’s more of the pressure I was saying.

“At that time, I was 23 and I have a mother who is in her 60s, a father who is in his 60s, a sibling who is in jail, has been incarcerated for 10-plus years now. I’ve got eight or nine other siblings who aren’t doing financially the best. On top of that, I’m introducing a daughter into this world now. ... I’ve got so much going on in my life, that’s the pressure I’m feeling. Everybody is banking on me.

“I got a call from my brother, probably a few months before then, my brother was trying to figure out, ‘How can you help me get out because of your position?’ That hit a nerve for me, because I understand I’m in a great position but I’ve never done anything illegal. I’ve been boxing my entire life and I started this as a kid, so I’ve still got a kid mindset. Me not understanding how to get through certain challenges in life to help the people that I truly, truly want to help is a lot of pressure.”

Anderson is scheduled to defend his WBC-USNBC and WBO International heavyweight titles against Martin Bakole on August 3 in Los Angeles.

While Anderson appears to have a very bright future in boxing, he’s still a far cry from the sort of life-changing paydays the biggest stars earn. And that fact, coupled with the mounting pressure of expectations, led to Anderson’s teary moment.

“I want to help my mom financially, even though I’ve never had a million dollars,” Anderson continued.

“Having a million dollars to help my mom so she doesn’t ever have to work again, is a pressure. Wanting to talk to certain lawyers to help my brother get a judicial release is a pressure. Dealing with things with my father, because the person I call my father is not my biological father, so dealing with issues of not having my biological father there and taking on my brother’s dad as my father, those are pressures. Trying to make people proud of my family, those are pressures that people just don’t understand.

“It was more of a pressure from just trying to make the people around me proud and also still enjoying life and not being able to do what I want to do, but have to do in order to do that. That’s a huge amount of pressure on such a young kid while at the same time being called around America, ‘The Next Great American Heavyweight.’ That’s stuff that people just don’t understand because they don’t understand that I’m a human too, and it all kind of boiled over in that one moment.”

But just because he’s feeling pressure, doesn’t mean Anderson isn’t ready.

“The Real Big Baby” welcomes the title of “The Next Great American Heavyweight” and believes he’s ready to deliver on that promise.

“One hundred percent,” Anderson said when asked if he’s OK with being called the future face of American heavyweight boxing. “I’m OK with it, simply because it’s doing nothing but promoting me more. So the more people say it, the better for me. I have to realize that. Do I care for it? I really don’t. But that’s a personal thing for me, in a legacy way. That’s a personal thing I don’t care for. If you say it or you don’t, it’s your opinion. But it helps promote me and make me look better, so of course I have to take it in, I have to appreciate it, and know that it’s coming from a good place.”

“And the reason I agree with it is my caliber of fighting,” Anderson added. “I know what I’m capable of, I know who I’ve been in there with, and I know what I’ve done behind closed doors.”

For the time being though, Anderson is still on the outside looking in when it comes to the top ranks of the heavyweight division. But the 24-year-old believes that could change in the near future given his work with promoter Top Rank and his support from Turki Al-Alshikh, Chairman of the Saudi Arabia General Entertainment Authority.

“Well, with Turki playing a part, maybe a fight or two?” Anderson said. “Sooner rather than later. With him being involved, him having the confidence in me and wanting to push me ... I could see it being another year or two before anything [big] opens up, but by that time, having Turki or Top Rank, I do believe that I could be in position.”