Zhilei Zhang has called out heavy-handed Nigerian puncher Efe Ajagba for a co-main event clash on the historic Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk bill. No undercard fights have been added to the event as of yet but Zhang, fresh off a third-round stoppage victory over Joe Joyce, is keen to feature.
Since beating Joyce in back-to-back bouts, Zhang has established himself among the divisional elite at heavyweight. He is now Usyk’s WBO mandatory and occupies the No 4 spot in the prestigious Ring Magazine rankings – a far cry away from where he was just one year ago.
Heading into his inaugural encounter with Joyce in April, Zhang had been widely written off by critics after a sustaining couple of blemishes on his boxing record. The first, and undoubtedly the most worrying, was a majority draw with American road warrior Jerry Forrest, who rose from the deck in rounds one, two and three to give Zhang an almighty scare down the home straight.
A year later Zhang looked to redeem himself in an IBF final eliminator bout against up-and-coming Croatian behemoth Filip Hrgovic on the Usyk vs Anthony Joshua II undercard in Saudi Arabia. But despite many believing he had done enough to get his hand raised the judges gave it to Hrgovic as Zhang fell to the first defeat of his professional career.
Boxing is an unforgiving sport and at 40 years old with no major world-level wins on his record, Zhang was drinking in the last chance saloon against Joyce. But the decorated amateur boxer would rise from the ashes to stop his high-flying opponent twice.
The first fight ended in the sixth round after Zhang closed up Joyce’s right eye with a series of crisp left straights before the 287lb bruiser folded the Brit with a vicious right hook in their rematch to close proceedings in the third stanza. Now, Zhang is looking to build upon his momentum with a showcase fight on the Usyk vs Fury undercard on February 17.
Speaking exclusively to Express Sport in association with FreeBets, Zhang laid out his next steps: “As a fighter myself, I would definitely love to get involved in the biggest fights possible. And right now the Saudi events are the biggest fights possible.
“I would love to get on the Fury-Usyk card as a chief support. Right now, I’m just training, I don’t have any information. I don’t have any updates. I can only keep myself hopeful. But in terms of opponents, I really have no idea because everybody’s fighting everybody else. I like the [Efe] Ajagba fight. Bring it.”
Ajagba burst onto the scene with plenty of hype when he turned over as a pro in 2015. The Nigerian boxer stopped seven of his first eight opponents in the first round and was being touted as the next African world heavyweight champion early on in his career.
But a slip-up against Frank Sanchez in 2021 derailed his hype and he now finds himself in a similar position to where Zhang was before the Joyce fight. A showdown between these two colossal punchers promises fireworks and with most of the top heavyweights already matched up for the back end of the year and early 2024, this one makes a reasonable amount of sense.