Zhilei Zhang is a big believer in his left cross.
The heavyweight contender from China upset the odds last Saturday night when he forced a sixth-round stoppage of Joe Joyce at the Copper Box Arena in London. The referee deemed Joyce unfit to fight because of a severely swollen right eye, courtesy of Zhang’s repeated straight left hands.
Indeed, Zhang could not miss with his left, as he repeatedly landed it on Joyce, whose reputation in part rests on his ability to eat punches rather than avoid them.
The win has catapulted the previously unheralded Zhang into heavyweight relevancy and, moreover, was something of a vindication of his disputed points loss to Croatian contender Filip Hrgovic last August. In that fight, Zhang managed to drop Hrgovic.
At nearly 40 years of age, Zhang may not be the most mobile of heavyweights, but he showed against Joyce that he has quick hands, good counterpunching instincts, and a reliable left hand.
“It’s easy [to land the left],” Zhang said of his best weapon in an interview with Boxing Social. “I hurt Hrgovic with that back hand and I believe that anybody can get hit by that back hand. They can see it coming but they can’t get away from it.”
Zhang said he was in tip-top shape heading into the Joyce fight.
“I feel like people questioned my conditioning and my stamina after the Hrgovic fight but for me I had such a successful training camp,” Zhang said. “My conditioning trainer and my boxing trainer stayed on top of it. I know that Joe Joyce wanted to take this fight to deep waters and drown me but I’m here. You can drown me whenever you want but I’m ready for 12 rounds.”
Zhang has called for a showdown with WBC titlist Tyson Fury, but he may be obligated to give Joyce a rematch in the event that Joyce decides he wants to activate that clause in his contract. Joyce has hinted that he may not pursue the rematch straightaway.
Sean Nam is the author of the forthcoming book Murder on Federal Street: Tyrone Everett, the Black Mafia, and the Last Golden Age of Philadelphia Boxing.