Exclusive | Zhilei Zhang on the Double-Edged Sword of Wilder KO – Heavyweights are Scared ‘They don’t want to fight me’
Earlier this year, China’s Zhilei Zhang scored a huge knockout win against the former boxing world champion Deontay Wilder, but now every heavyweight is scared to face him. ‘Big Bang’ Zhang spoke with LowKickMMA and AceOdds for an interview to discuss his most recent win.
Zhilei Zhang Knocks Out Deontay Wilder
As an amateur, the southpaw Zhilei Zhang won a silver medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and bronze medals at the 2007 and 2009 World Championships. As a professional, Zhang has compiled an impressive record of 27 wins with 22 of his victories coming by knockout. At a towering 6’6″ the former WBO interim heavyweight title holder packs serious power.
Despite suffering a loss to Joseph Parker in March 2024, Zhang bounced back with a notable victory over former WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder in June 2024. But now, back in the top five, after his major win, most other heavyweights at the top are too scared to face him. Speaking to him in an interview, Zhilei Zhang explained:
“It’s a double-edged sword. The good thing is after I lost to Parker in March, I was kind of out of the mix, but with the victory, I was back in the mix again. That’s the good thing about it. It put my career right back on track.
“The negative side is that after knocking out Wilder, people look at me like, he’s from another planet. They don’t want to fight me. They look at me like somebody they want to avoid at all costs. That puts me and my team in a difficult position in terms of looking for opponents and securing big fights. I really feel like the elite heavyweights should just come and face me and just let it be done.”
Zhilei Zhang On His Future
‘Big Bang’ Zhilei Zhang is hoping maybe Riyadh Season with Saudi Arabia and Turki Alalshikh can make some choices to help move this heavyweight title picture along. He continued:
“I think it’s really smart for his excellency to put everything together. Obviously, we’re benefiting from it but at the same time, they are making fights that we would normally never get to see. They made a lot of fights that we can only dream about and this is really such a good thing.
“Also on the other side, Riyadh season is the big push behind everything, I think they made the whole world realise what a wonderful country Saudi Arabia is. People are looking at Saudi Arabia as the centre of professional boxing and of sports as well.”
The top-five-ranked Zhang has a close eye on the upcoming rematch between Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury. He said that he would happily face either one, the Chinese-born athlete added:
“I’ll do it now. Without hesitation.”
