Zhilei Zhang has felt the punches of both Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder.
The towering Chinese heavyweight is having a great moment in his career despite being towards the back end of it.
A former Olympic silver medalist, Zhang operated in the shadows for many years but really put himself on the map with a pair of wins over Joe Joyce in 2023/24. Joyce had previously looked unstoppable as he came forward and knocked out his opposition, but Zhang stood up to the power and stopped the Brit in the sixth round of their first contest due to an increasingly swelling eye.
Joyce opted for an immediate rematch but came unstuck quicker the second time round, this time falling to the canvas in round three and, although he managed to rise to his feet, the referee stopped the fight.
Next up, Zhang took on former world champion Joseph Parker, and though he had his man down twice, he lost on points before going into a fight with Wilder in June 2024 and stopped the American puncher inside five rounds.
Flashback to his amateur days and Zhang also faced the power of would-be world champion Joshua in the Olympics. ‘AJ’ put him down in the quarter finals back in 2012 before going on to win on points.
Speaking to TalkSPORT, Zhang has little doubt that Wilder is the harder puncher, putting him above Joshua, who admittedly hadn’t found his full power back then and scored less stoppages due to the headguards.
“Right now it is Deontay Wilder. He hits very hard, I got caught with a big punch in the fifth round but I managed to take it and knock him out.”
Next up for Zhang is Agit Kabayel on February 22 in Saudi Arabia for the interim WBC world title. The winner could well get a shot at full champion Oleksandr Usyk down the line.
Meanwhile, Joshua and Wilder could finally be set to meet after years of failing to get a fight over the line. With both coming off losses – ‘AJ’ to Daniel Dubois – the time may be now for the big punchers to face off.
