One of boxing’s most influential figures in Saudi government minister Turki Al-Sheikh has announced American heavyweight Jared Anderson to be participating on the August 3rd card set to be headlined by Terence Crawford and Israil Madrimov, with Wilder being tipped to become Anderson’s opponent depending on how Wilder’s upcoming June 1st fight against Zhilei Zhang pangs out.
Though General Entertainment Authority (GEA) chairman Turki Al-Sheikh only seemed to enter the public eye last year starting with Tyson Fury’s (34-0-1, 24 KO’s) heavyweight bout against former MMA champion Francis Ngannou (0-2, 0 KO’s), the Saudi government official had appeared to launch his intentions to take over boxing several years ago when Anthony Joshua (28-3, 25 KO’s) faced Andy Ruiz Jr in a rematch at the Diriyah Arena in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia, in 2019.
Roughly five years since the Joshua-Ruiz II bout, Turki Al-Sheikh has grown in prominence, arguably becoming the most influential man in boxing as he became the main financial benefactor to several eye-catching fights that have occurred in the past year or so, and will further happen this year; including the upcoming May 18th heavyweight undisputed bout between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk (21-0, 14 KO’s).
As a fan of boxing, Turki Al-Sheikh has used what influence he has to create the fights he wants in Saudi Arabia, but now the United States appears to have peeked Al-Sheikh’s interest as a destination for fights with Terence Crawford (40-0-1, 31 KO’s) and Israil Madrimov (10-0-1, 7 KO’s) set to headline a Los Angeles fight card on August 3rd.
Top Rank fighter Jared Anderson (17-0, 15 KO’s) has now been added to the card as has been confirmed by Turki Al-Sheikh himself, who also declared his intentions to see the young heavyweight contender face former WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder (43-3-1, 42 KO’s) in the ring.
“The talented 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,” Turki Al-Sheikh posted on his Twitter/X account. “I always believe that boxing would be at its peak when you have young American heavyweights like Jared Anderson which I also believe in his talent and his promising future.
“My advice to him [Jared Anderson]: ‘Focus on your future, training, and commitment and you will reach to your goals.’. Happy to collaborate with Top Rank again―Riyadh Season card 3rd of August in LA, will be one for the history!“
Notably, Turki Al-Sheikh did not substantiate on whether Wilder actually needed to defeat Zhilei Zhang (26-2-1, 21 KO’s) in their upcoming June 1st bout, suggesting that all is required of Wilder is for him to not sustain too much damage during his fight with Zhang; which is set to be a hard task given Zhang is known to be one of the hardest punchers in the division.
The apparent motivation to see Anderson and Wilder together in the ring might be attributed to Turki Al-Sheikh’s longstanding fascination with American boxers, with the GEA chairman even admitting in an interview last year to American heavyweight legend Larry Holmes being one of his favorite boxers.
On a competitive basis, a possible future fight between Anderson and Wilder will be of substantial benefit to the American heavyweight boxing scene that has yet to see top American heavyweights face each other in the past two decades or so; resulting in there barely being only several potential heavyweight contenders with Deontay Wilder and Andy Ruiz Jr becoming the only two American heavyweights to become world champions since the end of the “Klitschko brothers” era―which is often said to have lasted from 2004 to 2015.
