Confirmed: Zhilei Turns Down Fight with Jared Anderson

American heavyweight prospect Jared Anderson (17-0, 15 KOs) has revealed that 41-year-old Chinese veteran Zhilei Zhang (27-2-1, 22 KOs) turned down a fight with him.

"Yes, I did ask for a fight with Zhilei. Everyone saw the post I made about Top Rank, but I'm not sure if everyone saw the post I made about Zhilei Zhang, where I said I want to fight him next. He turned down the fight with me. I'm not going to name names or sources, but after he beat Deontay, I said, 'Why not fight Zhilei?'

Why should I wait to fight someone else or pick another opponent when he just beat the man I was supposed to fight? Despite what was said, he turned down this fight. I'm not saying it won't happen in the future, but for now, he declined. Although I am not against this fight at all," said Anderson.

Zhilei confirmed Jared's statements and explained that he turned down the fight because, at this stage of his career, he is interested in title bouts.

"Jared Anderson is a great fighter; I have nothing but respect for him, and he has earned his way. But right now, I am trying to fight for a title, and Jared Anderson is a promising boxer, and I don’t want to fight a promising boxer now. I am looking for serious opponents – Tyson Fury, Oleksandr Usyk. I want championship fights, I don’t want to fight a promising boxer," said Zhilei.

It's worth noting that the boxers are relatively close to each other in the rankings of reputable boxing organizations. According to the WBA rankings of the best heavyweight boxers, Zhilei is ranked 8th, while Jared is 13th. The WBC places the Chinese fighter third and Anderson fifth. In the WBO rankings, the gap is even smaller – third and fourth positions respectively. In the IBF rankings, the American prospect is placed higher than his colleague – fifth, while Zhang holds the 6th position.

In April, Jared Anderson won a unanimous decision against Riyad Merhi (32-3, 26 KOs), and his next fight will be on August 3rd against Martin Bakole (20-1, 15 KOs). On June 1st, Zhilei Zhang secured a technical knockout in the fifth round against former champion Deontay Wilder (43-4-1, 42 KOs).