Fighter of the Week (9/18-9/24): Zhilei Zhang
On a sneaky good weekend of boxing, one fight ended with a tremendously big bang! A potential knockout of the year. A single right from a 287-pound heavyweight in the third round that sealed the deal! "Big Bang" Zhilei Zhang, of Zhoukou, China, proved his first upset win over Joe Joyce of London, England, in April was no fluke! Zhang predicted he would knock out his British opponent again, but this time even quicker. He certainly delivered on that promise after outlanding and unboxing Joyce over the first two rounds! Joyce, who weighed a career-high 28- pounds began to slow and break down. He was caught with a massive right hook that put him down and immediately out, and the bout was waved off by the referee Steve Gray, dropping Joyce's record to 15-2 (14). Zhang improved his record to 26-1-1 (21), put himself in the thick of the heavyweight title picture, retained his WBO interim title, and captured our Fighter of the Week award.
Zhang showed that life really does begin at 40! The massive Chinese heavyweight scored the most important win of his career in sensational fashion. After the two traded jabs in a feeling-out process of a first round. Joyce looked a bit more cautious than he was in the first fight. However, it didn't prevent two massive right hooks from the Chinaman from landing clean on the Brit's chin in the second round. It was a sign of things to come. Zhang dominated the second, and Joyce already appeared like he was starting to fade and slow down. Joyce tried firing the jab and moving a bit in the third round, but it was to absolutely no avail as a massive right hook came in that absolutely flattened Joyce and gave Zhang the third-round KO victory.
The Big Bang wants the big fight with WBC and lineal champion Tyson Fury. The victorious Zhang hinted at that being the fight he preferred. However, Fury is busy fighting UFC dudes, and doesnt seem to be really interested in fighting top-notch heavyweights. So that fight likely won't come off anytime soon. On top of that, he is the WBO interim champion, which could put him in line for a huge mega fight and massive payday with WBO/WBA/IBF Champion Oleksandr Usyk. The other option, and this may not be makeable for promotional reasons, but would also be a massive payday, is WBO number one ranked challenge and two-time former unified world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua. Those are the options, and Zhang is likely to get one of them in the next 12 months. That's the attractive position the big Chinaman has put himself in with consecutive stoppages of Joyce.
