Round 3: Zhang moves him around with easy. Wilder’s corner implored him to do something, saying they don’t want him to be a punching bag. For the first minute of this round he is. He’s just not punching. Zhang moves him to the corner, hits, Wilder moves away, and it happens again.
Currently with a professional record of 24-1-1, Zhilei has been scheduled to fight another heavyweight boxer, Joe Joyce, on April 15, 2023, in a title bout. The upcoming fight has been the talk of the town among boxing enthusiasts, and with a win over Joyce, Zhilei hopes to climb further in the ranks of the heavyweight division.
Zhilei weighs around 250 pounds and stands at 6 feet, 6 inches, towering over most of his opponents. Still, it's not just his stature that commands attention but also his phenomenal athleticism and punching power, which have earned him accolades in the boxing world.
In 2015, Zhang was signed to Roc Nation Sports, which Dino Duva also joined as an employee and boxing executive. Roc Nation, a music promoter, entered the boxing market in August 2014 with money but no plan. David Itskowitch, Roc Nation's founding chief operating officer of boxing, abruptly resigned in July 2016 and Duva's influence grew after. Roc Nation's boxing division was in quick decline from 2018, all but ceased working in 2019 and closed down in 2020.
Parker lost his next fight, too, a decision setback to Dillian Whyte that seemed to end any hope of a future title shot. But now, Parker is well-positioned while the trio of top heavyweights settle bragging rights as he looks toward another bout with Zhang.
After winning third place in the unlimited weight class in boxing in the 2001 National Games of China, he was called in as a sparring partner for the Chinese national boxing team in 2002. In 2003, he lost 22:8 in the first round of the 2003 World Amateur Boxing Championships to Grzegorz Kiełsa. At the 2004 World University Boxing Championships, he lost in the final to Rustam Saidov. Zhang enrolled at Zhengzhou University in 2005 and graduated in 2009 majoring in sports training. At the 2005 World Amateur Boxing Championships in China, he beat Vugar Alekperov 20:11 before losing to eventual champion Odlanier Solis (17:7).
But Zhang still faces a wait to get to Usyk as the WBO's No. 1 challenger. Usyk is expected to hold talks with Fury about a unification title fight, and IBF mandatory challenger Filip Hrgović is then next in line for a shot at Usyk.
Despite the weight disadvantage, Wilder will hold a 1-inch height advantage at 6-foot-7. Wilder weighed 1 pound more than he did against Parker but came in far lighter than his career heaviest of 238 in the trilogy bout with
Tyson Fury.
In 2020, while Zhang made a rare visit back home the day after Chinese New Year, his father died of a sudden cardiac arrest at home during COVID-19 lockdown in China. Zhang mistakenly believed his father to be choking and attempted the Heimlich maneuver to no avail.
The shots were stacking up quickly, though, and Zhang continued to bludgeon the face of Joyce, who was forced to absorb another clinical combination before being swept to one side by a clean left hook at the end of the round.
Zhang's commercialization was also hampered when CSI Entertainment, the broadcaster that signed an agreement in 2014 with Dynasty Boxing before the latter went bankrupt, disputed Roc Nation's broadcasting rights in Asia. Roc Nation was temporarily restrained from broadcasting in Asia from June 2015. The New York Supreme Court only called off the temporary restraining order two years later in June 2017. The court also denied Duva's motion to dismiss CSI Entertainment's complaint.
Zhang Zhilei, the Chinese heavyweight boxer, has firmly positioned himself among the top fighters in his division after spending over 7 years in the professional boxing ring. Born on March 3, 1983, he made his debut in August 2014 and has since contended in 26 fights, winning 24 of them, while losing one and drawing the other.
WBO cruiserweight world
champion Chris Billam-Smith: "I think Joyce stops him in the second half of the fight. Zhang was tiring in the last fight and I think Joe is smart enough to make adjustments early on to not get hit as much. So I think providing he doesn't take too much damage early on, Joyce can get to Zhang and stop him later on in the fight."
After the 2008 Olympics, Dino Duva built relationships with the National Boxing and Taekwondo Center of the Department of Sports of China and obtained exclusive rights to market all Chinese boxers. As a result, Chinese boxers had little freedom to choose an alternative promoter. On March 10, 2014, the 31-year-old Zhang signed a four-year contract with Dynasty Boxing, a company 50% owned by Duva.
big bang zhang next fight was Dynasty's first signing and Zhang had only one fight under Dynasty Boxing. Dynasty went bankrupt and closed down in December 2014.
Zhang's commercialization was also hampered when CSI Entertainment, the broadcaster that signed an agreement in 2014 with Dynasty Boxing before the latter went bankrupt, disputed Roc Nation's broadcasting rights in Asia. Roc Nation was temporarily restrained from broadcasting in Asia from June 2015. The New York Supreme Court only called off the temporary restraining order two years later in June 2017. The court also denied Duva's motion to dismiss CSI Entertainment's complaint.
