In the early morning of April 16, Beijing time, Chinese heavyweight brother "Big Bang" Zhang Zhilei fought with the then WBO heavyweight (over 91 kg) temporary world boxing champion Joyce in London, England, and the two sides fought fiercely until the sixth round, Joyce suffered a serious injury to his right eye, and after medical supervision and examination, the referee called a halt to the fight for the safety of the fighter. Zhang Zhilei's victory by TKO and the WBO heavyweight temporary world boxing belt marked a mark on Chinese boxing, and he became the first person in China to defeat the king of boxers in the heavyweight world boxing competition.
For many martial arts fans, you may not know much about what the temporary king belt is, the temporary king of fighters belt is established because sometimes the then king of fighters for various reasons can not defend the title, the two high-ranking fighters will compete for the temporary belt, once the king can defend the title, then he must accept the challenge of the temporary king. If the champion refuses to defend his title, or gives up his belt for various reasons, or competes in another division, the interim champion will be crowned the official champion. Therefore, if the current WBA, WBO, and IBF heavyweight world boxing champion Usyk can't think of giving up the belt for a while, then Zhang Zhilei will become the first heavyweight world boxing champion in China and even in Asia today.
At the same time, after this fight, Zhang Zhilei's world ranking also soared to 10th, which shows that the top 10 heavyweight fighters except Zhang Zhilei are monopolized by European and American fighters, and how difficult it is for Asian fighters to occupy a place in the heavyweight division. It wasn't until the 28th heavyweight division that there was another Asian fighter - Kosobutsky from Kazakhstan.
Why is the heavyweight class the most popular division of boxing, since the birth of the heavyweight, there have been many wonderful battles here. Ali, Foreman, Tyson, Holyfield, Lewis, the Klitschko brothers, Wild, Joshua to Usyk, Fury. This division will always be the most watched in boxing, and the big divisions are full of uncertainty, and while the wildness of human power is brought to the extreme, it has also produced a group of highly skilled fighters, so this division has always been full of charm. Most of the biggest stars in the boxing world are also from the heavyweights, and even if the heavyweights are not as glorious as the Tyson era, the star fighters are still in the spotlight.
Throughout the world heavyweight boxing scene, the world boxing champion is basically monopolized by Europe and the United States, boxing champion Ali, George Foreman, boxing king Tyson, Wild are all representatives of American heavyweight boxing champions. The Klitschko brothers we know are from Ukraine, as is the current WBA, WBO and IBF heavyweight world champion Usyk. Joshua, who had previously been with Wilder, is from the United Kingdom, and the current WBC heavyweight world champion Tyson Fury is also from the United Kingdom.
Among the current heavyweight interim champions with Zhang Zhilei, WBA (regular) champion Dubois is from the United Kingdom, and the WBC and IBF interim champions are in vacancies, and Zhang Zhilei, a Chinese fighter, is even more prominent and precious among them.
At the age of 40, Zhang Zhilei still has the ambition to challenge the world boxing title, and just by being an Asian fighter, becoming a temporary champion at the age of 40 is enough to be a miracle. Whether or not he succeeds in winning the World Championship belt in the future, he is an undisputed legend in Asian boxing. We also wish Zhang Zhilei to challenge the world boxing champion as soon as possible, continue to create the history of Chinese boxing, and write his story.