Bob Arum, in speaking with Sky Sports, says the definite plan for unbeaten heavyweight Jared Anderson is a fight with Deontay Wilder next……providing Wilder comes through okay this Saturday when he will face Zhilei Zhang in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. A Wilder-Anderson fight was put forth by Turki Alalshikh, and now Arum has confirmed the fight as one both he and Anderson want.
However, Arum is not at all sure Wilder will defeat “Big Bang” Zhang on Saturday.
“Wilder has a very tough fight coming up on Saturday with Zhilei Zhang, and if he wins, sure, we’d love to do that fight (Wilder Vs. Anderson) because it would put Jared right up there among the top three or four heavyweights,” Arum said. “But I really believe that Zhang is gonna be too much for Wilder, I think Wilder has slipped a little bit. Zhang is an awfully good fighter, he’s a rough, tough heavyweight. If Wilder is not available then we’re going to look for the biggest possible opponent for Jared to fight. We want to start moving Jared along, I know he’s young, but we really believe he can compete with anybody in the heavyweight division. First we have to see who’s available and then we’ll make a decision. But right now, the plan is truly to fight Deontay Wilder.”
It would of course be a risky fight for Anderson if he fought Wilder. If Wilder does a number on Zhang, this in emphatic ‘I’m back!’ fashion, the fans will no doubt start calling for Wilder to take another big fight. But is Wilder-Anderson a big fight? Sure, it would be a huge fight for Anderson, a real test for him, but what would Wilder really get with a win? If Wilder wiped Anderson out, say, some people would no doubt suggest that Anderson was not a proven fighter.
In any case, as Arum says, first we have to see what happens on Saturday. Has Wilder “slipped,” or did he merely have a bad night against Joseph Parker last time out? Zhang believes he will KO Wilder, Wilder believes he will KO Zhang. We fans cannot wait to see what happens, whereas Jared Anderson will be rooting for Wilder to get the win.
My Pick: Both men hit the floor in a thriller, with Wilder getting the KO win somewhere in the middle rounds.
