The 40-year-old Zhang Zhilei defended his belt again.
In the early morning of September 24, OVO Stadium Wembley in London once again let the world see the power of China!
WBO heavyweight transition champion Zhang Zhilei from China performed well in a rematch against British fighter Joyce, defending his title successfully with a right-handed knockout in the third round.
With this victory, Zhang Zhilei will continue to consolidate his strong position in the heavyweight division and increase the weight for continuing to attack the world boxing throne.
One hit wins
In April this year, Zhang Zhilei and Joyce met for the first time to challenge Joyce for the Transitional Champion belt, and after 6 rounds of fierce fighting, Joyce suffered a serious eye injury and was terminated by medical supervision, and Zhang Zhilei won.
Given the rematch clause in the contract between the two sides, Zhang Zhilei can only fight Joyce again after a gap of 5 months.
Before the fight, Zhang Zhilei was unanimously optimistic, WBA, IBF, WBO heavyweight champion Usyk believes that Joyce is likely to be "stopped" again: "Zhang Zhilei's left posture makes Joyce very uncomfortable, if he can't change his way of fighting, the result of the rematch will not change anything from the first fight." ”
British fighter Yard is also worried about his compatriots, feeling that Joyce made the wrong decision from the beginning, "A fight is a mistake, I don't understand why Joyce chose Zhang Zhilei." As a transitional champion, Joyce could have chosen other (weaker) opponents or simply sat back and waited for the opportunity to challenge Usyk. ”
Zhang Zhilei knocks out Joyce.
Of course, this rematch Joyce did not make targeted adjustments, and his presence weight of 281 pounds was the largest weight since entering his career, and 25 pounds more than in the first battle.
It seems that Joyce hopes to improve his confrontation ability by gaining weight and carrying Zhang Zhilei's heavy punch. But it turns out that Zhang Zhilei at the moment is Joyce's unbearable weight.
In the first round, the two sides mainly tested each other, and Joyce was quite afraid of Zhang Zhilei and did not dare to punch easily.
In the second round, Zhang Zhilei began to exert his strength, and his several heavy punches clearly hit Joyce's head, and he still had a hard time finding a better strategy to deal with Zhang Zhilei's play.
In the third round, Zhang Zhilei continued to suppress his opponent, and towards the end of the round, Zhang Zhilei seized the opportunity to hit Joyce in the head with his right hand as the two sides struggled, and the latter immediately collapsed to the ground.
During the referee's count of eight, Joyce could not stand up in time and the game ended.
Next battle, Usyk or Furi?
With a perfect knockout, Zhang Zhilei won far more easily than the outside world thought, and the fight also taught the professional boxing world that giants from China have the power to change the heavyweight professional boxing world.
Winning the World Champion (official) belt has always been Zhang Zhilei's ultimate goal, clearing the obstacle of Joyce, and Zhang Zhilei seems to be only one step away from his dream.
At present, Usyk is the WBA, IBF, WBO boxing champion, Tyson Fury is the WBC boxing champion, if he can fight any of the two, it is an opportunity for Zhang Zhilei to further make history.
Zhang Zhilei's co-agent Terry Lane said: "After Zhang Zhilei wins, he can be on par with Furi and Usyk, the other fighters are far behind Zhang Zhilei, and our next target is to tend to Fury." ”
Although Usyk holds the WBO belt, Zhang Zhilei and his team, as the WBO transitional champion, want to challenge Furi more, mainly because Fury's market value is much better than Usyk, which can bring greater competition revenue.
It is worth mentioning that after the battle with Joyce, Zhang Zhilei's team and Fuli's team had contact.
In addition to the two current champions, Joshua is also an option - Zhang Zhilei lost to Joshua at the 2012 London Olympics, Zhang Zhilei said: "I would like to try this opponent again. ”
It is foreseeable that after Zhang Zhilei continuously detonates the professional boxing scene, his future matches will be more influential and commercially valuable.
If there is one doubt - witnessing Zhang Zhilei knocking out Joyce, no top fighter will have the confidence to fight easily, and the 40-year-old Zhang Zhilei will not have time to wait long.