NEW YORK – Jared Anderson’s destruction of Jerry Forrest might make it even harder to get ranked heavyweight contenders to fight the 23-year-old knockout artist.

Anderson will just have to hope that his promoter, Bob Arum, can pay veteran heavyweights enough to entice them to take that risk in 2023. The Toledo, Ohio native also wants to fight in his hometown sometime next year.

“Fight some bigger names, fight the people in the top 15 [with] any sanctioning body,” Anderson said during a post-fight press conference early Sunday morning. “So, you know, just keep the steam rolling. You know, and hopefully go fight at home. That’s my next move, to try and get a fight at home. You know, sell out the Huntington Center in Toledo, Ohio. You know, show out.”

Anderson thoroughly entertained an announced crowd of 8,029 on last Saturday night at Madison Square Garden, where he stopped the usually durable Forrest in the second round of their scheduled 10-rounder.

Forrest attacked Anderson as soon as their bout began and landed three flush left hands within the first 25 seconds of their fight. A poised Anderson responded by disarming Forrest with an array of power punches.

A courageous Forrest tried to fight out of serious trouble, but Anderson nearly stopped him by landing 54 of 114 punches in the opening round. Anderson’s right hand to the top of Forrest’s head left Forrest all but out on his feet when referee David Fields stopped their fight at 1:34 of the second round.

“No, I definitely didn’t expect him to come out as aggressively [as] he did,” Anderson said. “To be honest, I thought he was gonna lay back and try and survive as long as he could. But when he did, I wanna say probably like the third right hand that I hit him with, that was when he realized like, ‘Yeah, this ain’t the right hands I been getting hit with before.’ You know what I’m saying? So, we adjusted. I think it was pretty good.”

Anderson (13-0, 13 KOs) became just the second opponent to knock out Forrest (26-6-2, 20 KOs) in his 10-year pro career. Forrest, of Newport News, Virginia, hadn’t been stopped inside the distance since Gerald Washington, who was 8-0 at that time, knocked him out in the second round of their August 2013 encounter in Indio, California.

The 34-year-old Forrest tested two top-10 heavyweight contenders, China’s Zhang Zhilei (then 20-0) and American Michael Hunter (then 20-1-1), in a pair of 10-round fights that resulted in a majority draw and a split draw, respectively, in 2021. Based on how he handled Forrest, Anderson is more convinced than ever that he’ll have to work his way into a mandatory position with the IBF, WBA, WBC or WBO before he’ll get a title shot.

Anderson is ranked 15th by the WBC, but he isn’t rated in the top 15 by the IBF, WBA or WBO.

“Y’all been seeing since I started the interviews and things since I got here, I been saying, ‘Mandatory, mandatory, mandatory,’ ” Anderson said. “Cuz I know that’s what’s coming. People who watch me, who study me or even see me coming, they know that I’m a problem and they gotta deal with me. So, you know, we just gotta fight for it. You know what I’m saying? But it’s gonna end up becoming a mandatory. I’m ranked now. You see we getting [regional] belt after belt. They gonna have to see us soon.”

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.