Bearded Dragon Behavior Help

Hello, I am very new to bearded dragons. I acquired my 2 year old beardie from someone who could no longer give him the proper care he needed. The person I got him from said that he's been handled a lot( which I don't believe), but every time I try to pick him up he runs away and squirms. I've had him for a few weeks now and I still haven't gotten anywhere close to picking him up and him tolerating it. I've successfully picked him up and held him twice to clean his cage but all he did was squirm and fight the entire time. I have also tried petting him on the head/lower back/tail and he runs and puffs up every time. He does have a black spot on his back from where I assume he had trouble shedding. Maybe the spot is what's causing him to not like being picked up. He still puffs up almost every time I put my hand in his tank without food. He used to open his mouth very wide, puff up, and hiss but I shoved kale in his mouth like some people have suggested and he stopped opening and hissing. He's in a tank sufficient for his size and he has a basking light and a ReptiSun UVB light. The basking light is red which I have read is known to cause eye problems and he didn't have a UVB light previously so I had to buy one and i only recently got it.
Basically all I need is some help and guidance because I have 0 experience caring for reptiles. I do have a lot of time on my hands so anything is an option.
Should I keep trying to pick him up and abandon the idea after he runs away a few times , or should I just pick him up forcefully like I did to clean the cage.

Sorry if I messed up on anything I am very new to this website.

It may take some time for him to settle in so I'd go easy on the handling for a while if he doesn't like it. Start to build trust by offering some treats like black soldier fly larvae or silk worms by hand and see if he comes to your hand for them.

Getting the lighting just right is a bit tricky but is critical so I'll do my best to help get that sorted. That may also be affecting his mood and health.

I would stop using a red basking light. It's better to use a bright white basking light along with a good UVB light because the goal is to try and imitate natural sunlight as much as possible. I've had good luck using PAR38 halogen flood lights for basking. They need to be a proper wattage and at a proper height to produce surface temps between about 100-105 in the basking area and about 75-80 on the cool side of the tank during the day.

The size and type of UVB light depends on the size of the enclosure and distance above the basking area so if you can provide some further detail about the dimensions of his enclosure that would be helpful. Photos would also be helpful. You can upload photos here https://www.beardeddragon.org/useruploads/ and post them to your thread using the XIMG button when you reply.