WHEN it comes to creating highlight-reel KO moments, Chinese heavyweight Zhilei Zhang is pretty adept at adding his work to the footage file.
Spinning Deontay Wilder around before detonating on his available chin, without remorse, was the final scene of a captivating five-versus-five Saudi stage play.
The question is, where will the 41-year-old finisher end up next? Promoter Frank Warren, who has found himself possessing a surprisingly useful asset, can answer that.
“We’re blessed with heavyweights at Queensberry,” beamed Warren. “Zhilei done a brilliant job. I mean, I like him. He’s such a character, such a nice guy and he really bought into the team spirit of Queensberry against Matchroom.
“He was one of our star performers and obviously got us the knockout points. I’d love to do a fight for him in China.”
November 24, 2013, Macau, China — Superstar Manny Pacquiao (R) wins a 12-round unanimous decision over Brandon “Bam Bam” Rios at The Venetian Macao Resort in Macau, China. — Photo Credit: Chris Farina – Top Rank (no other credit allowed) copyright 2013.
Keen to tap a Chinese market reportedly desperate to consume boxing, Bob Arum previously went to Macau, taking the likes of Vasiliy Lomachenko and Manny Pacquiao with him. While the casinos on that island seemed like a welcoming new dawn at the time, Arum, tellingly, has not been back in recent years. The impressively imposing Bird’s Nest Arena (National Stadium) in Beijing seems to be more to Warren’s taste.
“I’d like to be on mainland China,” he disclosed. “I’d like to go out there because the hits he [Zhang] got apparently on their social media was like hundreds of millions. There was many, many millions watched his fight. I think he got more hits than anyone, but of course, we want to carry on doing what we’re doing because we want to see him in big fights.”
Snaring a legitimate belt can be difficult when the best two fighters in the division, Usyk and Fury, are busy duking it out for the titles. As the Wilder vs. Zhang fight showed, however, interesting stylistic matchups can be created in the interim to keep boxers busy until the hardware is freed up.
“He wants to be in big fights. At the moment, the belts are all tied up until Tyson and Usyk fight in December. In the meantime he won’t want to be sitting on his backside, he wants to be busy and it’s our job to keep him busy,” said Frank Warren.