Former opponent and current trainer of Deontay Wilder, Malik Scott, has admitted that he is less than impressed by the proposal for an all-American heavyweight showdown between his fighter and the up-and-coming Jared Anderson, after Turki Al-Alshikh revealed plans to add the crossroads battle to a stacked card this summer.
Already the August 3rd card, headlined by Terence Crawford and Israil Madrimov, is being talked about as one of the best cards to ever take place on American soil and certainly the best since the turn of the millennium. However, the Saudi boxing catalyst has not done yet, and recently admitted that he is planning to add Wilder-Anderson to the bill.
This comes despite the fact that ‘The Bronze Bomber’ is scheduled to take on Zhilei Zhang on June 1st in Riyadh – a fight in which Wilder is the underdog, and Malik Scott told Casino Online In that he ‘does not welcome the news’ and maintained that his and Wilder’s focus remains on ‘Big Bang’ Zhang.
“I don’t welcome the Jared Anderson news at all, we’ve got a big fight on our hands. We’re fighting one of the most dangerous heavyweights in the world right now and we want to make a statement the Wilder way, knocking someone out ice cold. Our mission is to execute Zhang.
“Jared Anderson has gone the distance with guys who are not as explosive as Deontay. He is a super talented young lion, but he’s not been in with anyone on Deontay’s level. He has question marks over him, he’s making mistakes that he’d have to clean up before fighting Deontay, otherwise he’d get knocked out cold.
“He’s a huge talent, he’s fast, but I’ve seen him have trouble with guys who aren’t on Deontay’s level, he’s been in trouble in fights with guys who don’t punch as hard as Deontay. He went the distance last time with a guy who is not a puncher.”
Deontay Wilder will captain Eddie Hearn’s team in the ‘Matchroom versus Queensberry’ five versus five card on June 1st, where Dmitry Bivol will now face a surprise candidate rather than Artur Beterbiev due to an injury to the unified light-heavyweight champion.
Meanwhile, the Crawford-Madrimov card is littered with talent and mouth-watering contests, as Tim Tsyzu and Vergil Ortiz Jr go to war in a super-welterweight thriller.
Highly-rated David Morrell debuts at 175lbs in a bid for the WBA (Regular) belt, Isaac Cruz defends his lightweight title for the first time, Andy Ruiz Jr. makes his long-awaited return and amateur sensation Andy Ruiz fights professionally for the fourth time.
Adding Wilder and Anderson to this card would surely make it the strongest since Turki Al-Alshikh took the reins of the sport and the fact that it takes place away from the Middle East gives fans in the United States and in the United Kingdom hope that the biggest boxing events will not be gatekept in Saudi.
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