Zhilei Zhang has set his career back on track after a potentially career-ending stoppage of Deontay Wilder.
Back-to-back wins over previously undefeated Joe Joyce in 2023 provided the spark Zhang needed to be recognised at the top table in the division, but a loss to Joseph Parker – despite scoring two knockdowns – halted his momentum.
The Wilder victory, a fifth round stoppage, came at the perfect time and ‘Big Bang’ is again rightly considered a dangerman in the weight class.
With the man himself uninterested in any tick-over fights while the belts are tied up in the Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury rematch as well as newly-elevated Daniel Dubois‘ fight with Anthony Joshua, there are plenty of competitive fights out there for him.
He is of course keen on the Parker rematch, but another heavyweight who has now cemented himself as a legitimate threat is Martin Bakole.
Following his emphatic win over rising star Jared Anderson this weekend, the Congolese heavyweight told Box Nation Zhang was ‘the fight.’
“I think so. I think that’s the fight. That’s where I belong. Anderson said yes to fight me. He’s still young, he believes in himself, but it was too early for him because I’m not his level. I deserve to be [in with] Usyk, Tyson, Joe Joyce, Zhang. That’s where I belong. Kabayel, Joseph Parker … I think I’ll get the big name I’m looking for.”
Bakole dropped Anderson in the first round and, after being largely uninterrupted by the American’s movement and power shots, utilised his cruel combinations again in the fifth to end it.
Post-fight, he said he was ‘the most avoided man on the planet’ a sentiment he and his trainer Billy Nelson have long been expressing. With the standout performance of the night under his belt and the backing of Riyadh Season’s Turki Alalshikh, he may just be able to get any fight he wants.
