Chinese heavyweight giant Zhilei Zhang is ready and willing to fight Anthony Joshua next.
Joshua holds a decision win over Zhang at the 2012 Olympic games.
Zhang had a huge 2023 after back to back stoppage wins over Olympic silver medal winner Joe Joyce.
The victories had made Zhang the WBO’s mandatory challenger to unified champion Oleksandr Usyk.
Joshua had picked up two wins this year, with a decision win over Jermaine Franklin and a knockout of Robert Helenius.
The British superstar had hoped to return before the end of the year, in a showdown with former WBC champion Deontay Wilder. Those plans have hit a few roadblocks – after some unexpected management changes with the group that runs boxing Saudi Arabia. The group in question was putting up the money to stage the fight in the Middle East.
Joshua is still hoping to fight again in the coming months – and he wants to fight a top opponent if the Wilder discussions completely fall through.
If a contract was placed on the table, Zhang would sign for the fight if the terms were acceptable.
“That is definitely an option for me,’ Zhang told Metro.co.uk. “You heard Anthony saying there are options out there, but is he serious? Send the contract over and if everything looks good I’ll sign it right away.”
Zhang is very interested to see what will happen with Usyk’s next fight, which is slated to be an undisputed showdown with WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury.
“Right now, we’re still looking to see what happens with the unification, because the unification overrides everything,” Zhang said.
“We’re still looking to see what happens with that. But with that done, and it’s out of the way then definitely I will exercise my mandatory challenger position.”
“The options are open and still out there. But for me and my team, we’re looking at the top names. We’re looking at Fury, Usyk, Joshua, Wilder. However, if those guys don’t want to accept my challenge or run away from me, that’s a different story. Then we go to boxers like Parker, Ortiz, Chisora, Dubois. Everything is possible, I’m not scared of fighting anyone. My target right now is for the bigger names.”
Credit: Boxing Scene