Zhang Zhilei is currently the holder of the WBO Heavyweight Temporary Belt, a title also known as the Transitional Champion Belt.
Let's first explain the difference between a temporary belt and a formal belt. In short, the official WBO heavyweight champion can't defend his title for various reasons, and to avoid being vacant for too long, the top two fighters in the rankings will fight for an interim (interstitial) title belt.
The significance of the fight for this temporary belt is that if the official champion can defend his title, the fighter who holds the temporary champion can exercise the right to challenge the official champion directly. If you succeed in the challenge, you will win the heavyweight title in one fell swoop!
Returning to Zhang Zhilei himself, he has successfully defended the WBO boxing title once, so why not challenge the current official boxing champion? It's not actually that he doesn't want to, it's that the current holder of the WBO belt is Usyk. Usyk is also the holder of the WBA and IBF titles, so many fighters are eager to challenge him. Successfully challenging Usyk means that he can directly obtain the gold belts of the WBO, WBA, and IBF organizations, and become the heavyweight champion in one fell swoop!
Usyk won the WBO, WBA, and IBF belts by successfully challenging Joshua, and won the rematch with Joshua, and his appearance fee soared from $750,000 to $38 million!
And Zhang Zhilei's current appearance fee is 600,000 US dollars, even if he already has a temporary belt. He snatched the temporary belt from Joyce, and the two fought a rematch. Although Zhang Zhilei successfully defended his title, it can be seen that this temporary belt has been held for quite some time. While he has the right to challenge him, the opportunity to challenge for the official title looks far away.
Compared to Usyk, Usyk was the gold medalist in boxing at the 2012 London Olympics! After turning professional, he quickly unified the welterweight title, that is, won the gold belt of the WBO, WBA, IBF, and WBC at the same time. Then, he moved up to heavyweight, which is why Usyk was able to quickly challenge Joshua, who holds three belts in the WBO, WBA, and IBF.
Therefore, it is very difficult for Zhang Zhilei to challenge Usyk, both in terms of strength and influence. In the heavyweight division, there are also Joshua, Ruiz, Wilder, Tyson Fury and other famous players, all of whom covet Usyk. Any one of them who challenges Usyk, winning or losing, will create hundreds of millions of dollars. Obviously, Zhang Zhilei has not yet reached this level.
Zhang Zhilei is 40 years old this year, while Usyk is 36, Joshua is 34, Wilder is 38 and Tyson Fury is 35. He doesn't have an advantage in age. To challenge Usyk, you need not only to have strength, but also to have a good brokerage team to operate. If Zhang Zhilei has the opportunity to challenge and successfully win the three belts of WBO, WBA and IBF, it will be a history-making moment, he will become a legend of Chinese boxing, and his appearance fee will also rise to the level of tens of millions of US dollars! Let's wait and see when that moment comes.