Deontay Wilder could face Jared Anderson on the August 3rd card if he’s ready to return to the ring for that event after his June 1st fight against Zhilei Zhang in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Wilder’s Upcoming Challenge
The former WBC heavyweight champion Wilder (43-3 will need to get through his fight with Zhang (26-2, 21 KOs) uninjured. His Excellency Turki Alalshikh wants the Wilder vs. Anderson fight for the Terence Crawford vs. Israil Madrimov card on August 3rd at the BMO Stadium in Los Angeles.
What’s unclear is whether Wilder will still be the option for Jared Anderson if he loses to Zhang on June 1st. If Wilder is coming off a loss, especially a knockout defeat, that would take a lot of the excitement away from fans.
Turki Alalshikh on Wilder vs. Anderson
His Excellency Turki Alalshikh said this on social media about Jared Anderson potentially fighting Deontay Wilder on August 3rd:
“Jared Anderson is with us now on August 3rd Riyadh Season card at LA against the “Bronze Bomber” Deontay Wilder – if he’s ready by then to fight after 1st of June’s fight against Zhilei Zhang. Happy to collaborate with Top Rank again – Riyadh Season card 3rd of August in LA, will be one for the history!”
If the Wilder-Anderson fight gets made, it’ll be a big step up in class for the 24-year-old Jared (17-0, 15 KOs) from the opposition he’s been facing. Top Rank will be throwing Anderson to the wolves if the older seek & destroy version of Deontay shows up for that fight.
Anderson was shaken up a couple of times in his fight against Charles Martin last year, and he doesn’t have the greatest chin. In Jared’s recent fight against Ryad Merhy, he fought like he was afraid to get clipped.
Mercy wasn’t throwing any punches, yet Anderson was afraid to go after him to try and knock him out. The crowd ended up booing both fighters. After the fight, Anderson blamed Merhy rather than himself for the lack of action. When a fighter has a stiff in there with them, they’re supposed to go after them to knock them out, but Jared looked scared to engage.