On July 12, Moscow time, Zhang Zhaoxin, a former military boxer from Minqin, Gansu, China, will compete in his second World Boxing Championship Challenge at the newly built IBA Gymnasium in Serpukhov, Moscow Region.
This is his first time in three years that he has stood in the ring after challenging Riad Merry in Belgium on July 17, 2021 for the WBA World -200 pound welterweight world title and receiving eight rounds of TKO.
It is also Xu Can on July 31, 2021, in Brentwood, United Kingdom, after losing the WBA world featherweight belt, China once again has a fighter challenge for the world title of the world's four major organizations after 3 years.
This time, Zhang Zhaoxin is ranked No. 1 in the WBA world -224 pounds, and he is challenging for the -224 pound WBA world championship title.
This level is generally directly translated as the Bridge class, also known as the bridge class.
It is a class officially created by the WBC in 2020, and the weight limit is between 200-224 pounds.
For this level, there are various inaccurate statements in China, such as this level is not the official world boxing champion or has little influence in the world, etc.
None of these claims are accurate.
The -224-pound Bridges class was first created by the WBC and was named after a 6-year-old boy, Bridger Walker·
On July 9, 2020, Bridge's sister was attacked by a 1-year-old German shepherd while playing in the yard.
In order to protect his sister, Bridge fights the sheepdog, which causes him to be severely bitten in the face and head by the vicious dog.
Bridge's parents posted the incident on social media, and his courage was unanimously praised by the media.
Subsequently, in July 2020, the WBC officially awarded Bridge the title of "Honorary Champion" in recognition of his courage.
ON NOVEMBER 9, 2020, THE WBC ANNOUNCED THAT IT HAD NAMED ITS NEW CLASS OF 224 POUNDS AS BRIDGERWEIGHT.
Commenting on the decision, WBC President Mauricio Sulaimán said: "We decided to create a new division called Bridger because it is necessary to serve a large number ·of boxers between 200 and 224 pounds. The name is inspired by the human hero, the six-year-old boy who heroically saved his four-year-old sister from a wild dog attack; Yes, this new department was inspired by Bridges · Walker. ”
So -224 pounds is called Bridges or Bridge, and there's never been a super-heavyweight.
To briefly mention here, the classes of professional boxing are mainly named after specific nouns, such as strawweight, bantamweight, and featherweight.
The previous -200-pound Cruiser was actually supposed to be the cruiser class, but it was conventionally translated as a sub-heavyweight.
This is the same as the statement of an ordinary WBA boxing champion (the official translation is a regular boxing champion), which is just an unofficial translation for domestic basic boxing fans to better understand.
This regular in WBA Regular Champion was added by the media in order to distinguish it from the Super Champion of Super Boxing. Whether it is in foreign reports or in the formal certification of organizations, the word "ordinary" does not exist in the WBA.
In 2015, WBA President Mendoza announced in Japan that he would cancel the concept of super champions, leaving only one world champion in each division. However, due to profit reasons, this work has not been fully advanced. There are currently six super champions in the 18 divisions.
The WBA 147 lb, 168 lb and 224 lb + classes have both super and regular double yolk eggs.
After the WBC announced the Bridges class, the other three organizations, the WBA, the WBO and the IBF, did not follow and apparently did not reach an agreement.
Boxing magazines and data systems such as BOXREC and fightnews also do not admit the existence of this level.
But after the 2023 WBC Annual Meeting, the WBA decided to recognize the Bridge class on December 1 and officially announced the world rankings for this class at the beginning of this year.
The latest WBA rankings
So at present, the WBC\WBA recognizes this level, while the WBO and IBF have not followed suit.
In fact, the reason why there is a primitive 8 in professional boxing is because in the history of professional boxing, there have always been cases of increasing the level and modifying the weight of the class.
For example, the earliest regulations on heavyweights can be traced back to 1738, that is, the third year of Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty.
At the time, under the Broughton Rules, anyone who reached 160 pounds (today's middleweight) could compete in the heavyweight division, and many champions in the 19th century weighed no more than 180 pounds.
Later, with the improvement of human nutrition, weight gain, Walker Law proposed in 1920 that only more than 175 pounds can be called heavyweight.
In 1979, the WBA stipulated that you could only be a heavyweight champion if you reached 190 pounds or more. In 2003, it was reformed to 200 pounds (90.71 kilograms) or more to compete in the heavyweight boxing championship.
Among the four major systems of professional boxing in the world, the WBA is the oldest, and the WBC is relatively more aggressive.
At present, these two major organizations occupy more than 70% of the world's professional boxing share, and almost all the progress and modification of the rule system are the first to be stipulated by these two organizations.
For example, the World Youth Boxing Champion, the International Gold Belt and other four major organizations recognized the hierarchy and belt concept, all of which were created by the WBC or WBA, and other organizations recognized and followed.
The IBF and the WBO are new organizations that split off from the WBA, and the IBF inherits a part of the original common historical memory of the WBA, while the WBO contributes little to the ABC Foundation Rules.
So, with the WBC and WBA already conceding the -224-pound bridge class (bridge class), it's only a matter of time before the WBO and IBF follow up with the WBO and IBF following up as promoters admit it.
After all, with one more level, no more competitions, and more certification fees, the boxing organization will not be at odds with money.
Indeed, since the division has only been in existence for four years, three have won the World Heavyweight Title, but none have successfully defended their titles.
The WBA has only been established for one year, and there was only one world champion (and cancelled) Yevgeny Tyshenko before, so the influence of this division in the world still needs more competitions to bless.
In February this year, before Zhang Zhaoxin and Yevgeny Romanov played the WBA World Challenger Elimination Match, there was not much coverage in the international media, only some English-language professional boxing websites and Russian-language media promoted it.
But when Zhang Zhaoxin made a shocking reversal, the boxing scene, FIGHTNEWS and other media, and even Japanese and Spain media also reported on it, gaining a certain exposure.
At that time, Zhang Zhaoxin signed a world competition agreement with the tournament promoter, waiting to challenge Ivgeny Tyshenko, the current 224-pound world champion of the Rio Olympics and WBA.
Unexpectedly, Yevgeny Tyshenko was found to have violated doping after the competition on December 9 last year. After half a year of appeals, the WBC finally announced in April that he had stripped him of his World Championship belt and recorded the bout as NC inconclusive.
Tyshenko was found to have doped
Then, after discussions in mid-May, the WBA decided to let Zhang Zhaoxin, who has already won the right to challenge for the world boxing title, compete with another Russia boxer, ranked No. 6 in the WBA world, Muslim Gadimagomedov, for the WBA's "original -224-pound world boxing championship belt".
Muslim · Gadzimagomedov was born on January 14, 1997 in the Republic of Dagestan, Russia, is 1.94 meters tall and is only 27 years old this year.
He has a very successful record in amateur boxing. He represented Russia at the 2019 AIBA/IBA Boxing World Championships in Yekaterinburg and Tashkent 2023, winning the heavyweight title.
He is also the champion of the 2019 European Games in Minsk and the European Boxing Championships in 2019 and 2023.
At Tokyo 2020, Muslim Gadzimagomedov lost 5-0 to Cuba's Julio Cesar LaCruz to win the silver medal.
He has less professional experience and has only three fights so far, making his promotional debut on December 24, 2021, when he knocked out Berrocal three times in the second round and won by knockout.
On the IBA boxing night when Yevgeny Tyshenko won in Dubai last year, Muslim Gadzimagomedov scored an eight-round TKO of Germany Artur Mann.
In Dubai, the author watched the confrontation at that time.
Group photo of the author and Tyshenko in Dubai
Muslim-Gadzimagomedov is a typical amateur Russian style of play, with flexible pace and excellent rhythm, and does not engage in simple heavy bombardment confrontations, but the landing point is clear and difficult to catch.
After officially signing a contract with Russia's host RCC in June, Zhang Zhaoxin entered about 4 weeks of final targeted preparation.
In the past, due to the lack of large-level professional boxers in China, it was difficult for Zhang Zhaoxin to find a suitable sparring partner, which was also the biggest problem in his training.
This time, he set up his own training schedule and hired a Czech amateur boxer through a friend to help him.
According to Zhang Zhaoxin, the Czech fighter is the same height as Muslim Gadzimagomedov at 1.94m. He has won the top three amateur results in the Czech Republic, and is currently practicing boxing at Tiantu Boxing Gym in Chengdu.
After Zhang Zhaoxin met through a friend's introduction, the two fought a lot of actual battles this time and gained certain benefits.
In an interview, Zhang Zhaoxin said: "Sparring has always been a problem for me, and in this special period, I am especially grateful to my Czech opponent and a fighting opponent who practiced fighting, and I fought about 6 times...... Both of these sparring partners were injured one after another, and I had to adjust the intensity on my own in the later stage. ”
As this is the second time he has challenged the world, and with the experience of hitting 47 punches last time he faced the technically talented former Russia national team player Yevgeny Romandorv in Yekaterinburg, Zhang Zhaoxin said: "This opponent is an Olympic silver medalist and a two-time world champion, and I think he is faster and moves a lot on his feet. The last time I went, I saw that they have a big base, and there are a lot of fighters at all levels, and they have been practicing since they were four or five years old, and their preparation must be very systematic. ”
"The match expects me to move my overall speed and fight back definitely not as fast as him, but I have my advantage to see if he can withstand [my heavy punch]."
Zhang Zhaoxin arrived in Moscow on July 4 and attended a press conference there.
This tournament was actually organized by the former Amateur International Boxing Federation, which is currently at odds with the International Olympic Committee and was disqualified from the Olympic Games.
So its official name is IBA Night of Champions.
There are 6 tournaments, 2 of which are IBA Pro Rules matches and 4 are WBA-certified professional events.
In addition to Zhang's final finale -224 pound WBA World Fight, there is also a four-star fight for the WBA tentative World Super Featherweight 130-pound World Championship.
At the press conference in Moscow, the president of the IBA, Umar Kremlev, sat in the middle. It shows the deep official background of Russia in this event.
Umar is also the president of the Russia Friendship Games, which is now actively preparing to compete in the Paris Olympics.
The 2023 IBA World Championships in Tashkent interviewed Kremlev
Zhang Zhaoxin said, "I arrived in Moscow on July 4, I was interviewed on the 5th, and I arrived at Serpukhov after adjusting here to the 7th. I have to participate in the shooting promotion almost every day, and today is an open training and interview event. The temperature here is generally comfortable and cool, and the stadium is said to be outside, so I haven't been there yet. It is said that there will be a show and Roy Jones will come. (Note: Roy Jones has become a Russia citizen).
Due to the match in Russia, plus IBA and Kremlev, the match is currently less covered by the English-language media.
Phil Boxing, Tapology, Fight News, and others have all reported on the match, and WBA officials have also confirmed it. But perhaps because Russia is suffering from Western sanctions, international bookmakers did not open the game.
Compared with the first time he went abroad to fight in the world war against Meili 3 years ago, Zhang Zhaoxin is obviously mature and has more experience this time, he said that his weight is basically in place, and he feels good.
Zhang Zhaoxin said: "The mentality of the first world war belongs to ignorance and fearlessness, and the mentality of this competition is more about how to fight and play, and it is relatively cautious...... I'm sure I'll come back with the belt myself. (Zhou Chao)