Michael Anderson stands over Eudy Bernardo during his fifth round knockout victory in 2023. Photo by David Algranati/The Fight Photos
NEWARK, NJ – Michael Anderson is an anomaly in many ways. It is not common to see boxers continue to compete past the age of 40, especially in his home state of New Jersey, which requires more extensive medical requirements for older boxers to obtain a license.
But for the 43-year-old known as “Slick”, he can look at himself in the mirror and say that he still has more to give. After all, he says in the 24 years he’s been competing, he’s only had a nosebleed twice. When asked why he doesn’t move on to life after boxing, he ponders why that same energy isn’t kept for the younger boxers on television that he believes he can beat.
Having been self-managed for over a decade and investing over $200,000 to keep his career going, no one is going to tell Anderson what to do with his life and career.
Anderson (24-3-1, 18 KOs) is far from retired, but will headline this Saturday, Oct. 12 at the state’s premier sports arena, Newark’s Prudential Center, when he meets fringe contender. Daniel Gonzalez in a ten-round welterweight bout for the vacant USBA belt. It will be his fourth time competing at the home of the National Hockey League’s New Jersey Devils and his first time competing in the main event.
A win over Gonzalez (21-4-1, 7 KOs) would put him in the top 15 of the IBF’s 147-pound rankings, but Anderson is content to go about business as usual.
“I literally saw maybe three rounds of his fights. It was a fight he won and I turned it off. Not to disrespect him, but when I looked at what I saw he brought to the table, it’s nothing I haven’t seen before,” Newark native Anderson said.
“The fighting guys, they want to fight until they get hit. He is more than welcome to fight his battle and I will fight mine, and then we will see who prevails.”
Photo by David Algranati/TheFightPhotos
For Anderson, his relationship with boxing began with a slow boil and eventually turned into a lifelong commitment. He put on boxing gloves for the first time at the age of 12 when his uncle bought him a pair to play around with his cousin. Instead of sticking with boxing then, he followed his father into martial arts, training in karate from the age of 5 to 13. He didn’t revisit boxing until he was already an adult, when his friend Faheem Gordon told him he was training at a local gym, the Dew Drop Boxing Club, run by Charlie “Dew Drop” Young, best known for being the trainer for former heavyweight contender Kevin Johnson.
Anderson remembers being overwhelmed by the kind of training his friend was doing, which consisted of bouncing on your toes and punches, and thought it would be a breeze.
“I was like it’s not shit compared to how my dad trained us. We broke and kicked sticks on our stomachs while doing pushups and walking on our stomachs and pushups on our ankles. I went one day and they splashed me, I got a black eye, I hit the kid against the ropes and after that I was like, ‘OK, I’ve got to come back,'” Anderson recalled.
Anderson had a relatively short amateur career consisting of 13 games, winning the NJ Diamond Gloves and Gold Gloves in 2004, plus a pair of NJ State Championships.
He never saw boxing as a potential career. Why would he? He already had a career delivering the mail, and does his five-hour route daily (except Sundays when the mail is not delivered) around the town of Oranje. He worked as a postman for eight years, and if he had stuck with it, he might already have retired on a pension. But you wouldn’t be reading this story now either.
His career took a turn for the serious in the mid-2000s when he reached out to one of his favorite boxers, “Sugar” Shane Mosley, on the now-defunct social networking site MySpace. Anderson texted him daily, letting the current Hall of Famer know he was going to the gym to get his work in, and each day his messages would go unanswered. That was until one day, when Mosley asked him to send a tape of him boxing. Anderson sent the tape, and then six months later he got another reply from Mosley, asking him to visit a gym to tone up in New York City under the supervision of trainer Elliot Ness, a Mosley associate who even if his bodyguard worked.
“When I passed, I looked like fresh meat. I handled myself more than well against the bully from the gym and Ness called Shane and was like ‘this guy is the real deal here.’ When Shane called me he was like ‘hey man it’s Shane’ and I rang. He would call back like ‘Stop playing it’s Shane. Do you have money on you? I want you to go to the airport, book a ticket, I’ll give you the money when you get here. I’m going to kick your ass if you come here,’” Anderson recalled.
“I was running when I got the phone call. I booked the flight nervously thinking I was going to be scammed. I finally got to the airport, someone else picked me up. When I saw the mansion I was like ‘oh shit’.”
Anderson was initially allowed to take two weeks off from his post office job, but when Mosley asked him to extend his stay in camp, Anderson was fired for being a no-call, no-show.
Mosley backed Anderson for his first six fights and turned pro in 2007 on the undercard of his fight against Miguel Cotto at Madison Square Garden. He also fought the undercard of Mosley’s first fight with Ricardo Mayorga in Carson, California, and The Ring’s 2009 Fight of the Year between Juan Manuel Marquez and Juan Diaz.
The working relationship began to fall apart when Mosley became preoccupied with his ongoing divorce proceedings with his then-wife Jin, who pointed Anderson in the direction of promoter Gary Shaw. Shaw moved Anderson’s career until he suffered a loss to Nick Casal, a third-round TKO loss in 2011, after which Anderson was dropped.
From that point on, Anderson was a free agent, booking his own fights and selling tickets to finance his career. Why does he do this?
Of course, it’s not because he needs bigger paydays. Anderson has supported himself through real estate investments since 2003, when one day a realtor managed his credit and showed him how to buy his own property, helping him move out of the one-bedroom apartment he was renting from his mother. He currently owns two rental properties and is working on adding a third one.
Nor is it because he needs excitement. Anderson gets plenty of that through his motorcycle club, the Show Off Ridaz Motorcycle Club, a dozen-member group he started in 2012. Anderson, who has been riding since 2002, previously owned a 750cc bike, but now rides a 2012 Can-Am Spyder, which has two front wheels for greater balance. He says he switched to the safer ride so he didn’t end up sidelining his career due to injuries he sustained in an accident.
“When you’re on a bike, nobody can bother you. You can’t hear your phone unless you stop and pull over because the engine is running. You get peace of mind, it’s just you, you can think of anything you need to,” Anderson said.
There is a camaraderie among cyclists that is not shared by other motorists, he says. For example, Anderson says there are times when he’ll pull up to a light and see other bikers, who will then invite him to a hangout or party they’re headed to.
“There is a lot of hanging out and supporting each other. When people take off those cycling jackets, they still have work. So you might be talking to an ambulance worker, a policeman, you might be talking to a social worker. If I post right now that I need a job, a bunch of bikers will post where they’re working and they’ll pull you through,” Anderson said.
Anderson realistically feels he has two years left in boxing. Having won 12 of his last 13 fights, including 7 in a row, Anderson could find himself in position to finally get his big break if he gets past Gonzalez.
Muhammad Abdul Salaam, who has been Anderson’s head coach since 2020, says he hopes to see Anderson get at least one opportunity before hanging up his gloves for good.
“I just hope he can finally get a break. There have been people lying and saying they are going to help push him this way and that, and nothing ever happens unless he does something for them. I just hope he gets a fair shot at one of these guys just to prove that if you take care of your body, you don’t drink, you don’t smoke, you don’t party, then there is no such thing as being not. old,” said Abdul Salaam.
One of Anderson’s goals is to fight long enough for his four-year-old son to have memories of seeing him in the ring. He might have a great cathartic climax to his career, or he might simply ride off into the sunset like his bike club heading to a cookout or party in another town. Either way, he has a point to prove every time he steps into the ring.
“I just want to go in there with the guys who say they’re the best, so I can make my mark on the world. Like, guys, don’t give up, don’t worry about what people say. It can be done,” Anderson said.
“The satisfying part is that I didn’t give up. I didn’t let boxing break me. I know too many fighters who get involved in the political side and they quit. I say I’m not going to be that person. Until I make my mark, I’m not going to be that person.”
Ryan Songalia has written for ESPN, the New York Daily News, Rappler and The Guardian, and is part of the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism Class of 2020. He can be reached at (email protected).
