Zhilei Zhang Says Tyson Fury Will Experience The Same Loss Joe Joyce did if they fight.
Zhilei Zhang may have a mandatory spot in line to face Oleksandr Usyk, but it sounds like his attention is fully on landing a fight with Tyson Fury after today’s knockout win over Joe Joyce.
While blowing off an intervening Derek Chisora in a post-fight interview, Zhang (26-1-1, 21 KO) said he nearly had a deal done with Fury once, and believes it can be revisited.
“I want Tyson Fury,” he said. “I was very close to making a deal with Tyson Fury until Joe Joyce activated his rematch clause. Now there are no more barriers. The road is clear. Let’s do it.”
Zhang said Joyce’s fate would also await Fury should they fight.
“Same thing,” he said. “Chinese power and Chinese speed!”
WBC title holder Fury (33-0-1, 24 KO) would, with respect to Usyk, make for a surely bigger money fight for the 40-year-old Zhang, who now has some solid name value in the UK, where Fury has proven he can sell stadiums in the country even against the aforementioned Chisora in a fight nobody actively wanted to see.
The fight could also be big money in Saudi Arabia, where Fury will face Francis Ngannou in a novelty fight on Oct. 28, or, just maybe, it could be the big money fight that’s going to come to China that has been promised for nearly a decade and never developed.
Meanwhile, it was repeat for Zhang in his rematch with Joyce, as the man from China scored a brutal knockout on the night of the much-anticipatwd rematch.
In their first meeting, Zhang wore Joyce down and the doctor stopped the fight in the sixth round due to damage to the eye of the Brit, but this time it was one punch that finished the clash.
Zheng knocked Joyce down with a vicious right hand.
The first round was very tentative for both men, with nothing of note landed, but most importantly for Joyce he didn’t sustain any damage like he did early in the first fight.
This did not last long, however, as Zhang quickly began to find a home for his left hand once again and seemed to rock Joyce on a number of occasions in round two.
And in round three Zhang landed the telling blow, as he spectacularly knocked out Joyce.
With Zhang growing in confidence in the fight, he threw a thunderous right hook that saw Joyce, usually known for his granite chin, collapse onto the canvas.
For the first six seconds of the referee’s count, Joyce lay face-down on the floor before bravely attempting to get back to his feet, but the bout was waved off.
This means that Zhang defend his WBO ‘interim’ world title, making him mandatory for current champion Oleksandr Usyk.
Although first, Usyk has to deal with his IBF mandatory challenger, Filip Hrgovic, and so Zhang will have to wait his turn.
But, it seems that Zhang’s focus is instead on WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury.
