Zhilei Zhang (; born May 2, 1983) is a Chinese
professional boxer
Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...
who has held the
WBO interim
An interim is a period of temporary pause or change in a sequence of events, or a temporary state, and is often applied to transitional political entities.
Interim may also refer to:
Temporary organizational arrangements (general concept)
*Provis ...
heavyweight title since April 2023. As an
amateur, he won bronze medals at the
2007 and
2009 World Championships, and a silver medal at the
2008 Olympics, all in the
super-heavyweight
Super heavyweight is a weight class in combat sports and competitive bodybuilding.
Boxing
In amateur boxing, the super heavyweight division is a weight class division for fighters weighing in excess of 91 kilograms (200 pounds). Introduced for t ...
division. As of May 2023, Zhang is ranked as the world's fourth-best active heavyweight by ''The Ring''.
Amateur career
In 2003, the
southpaw lost 22:8 in the first round of the World Championship to fellow southpaw Grzegorz Kiełsa of Poland.
At the
2004 World University Boxing Championship
The 2004 World University Boxing Championships took place in Antalya, Turkey between November 22 and 29 2004. 129 boxers from 27 countries participated at the inaugural tournament.
Participating nations
Results
Bronze medals are awarded to both ...
s, he lost the final to
Rustam Saidov
Rustam Saidov (Рустам Саидов; born 6 February 1978) is a boxer from Uzbekistan, who competed in the Super Heavyweight (+91 kg) at the 2000 Summer Olympics and won the bronze medal.
Career
In Athens at the 2004 Summer Olympics, ...
.
In 2005 in the World Championships in his home country, he beat
Vugar Alekperov 20:11 before losing to eventual winner
Odlanier Solis (17:7).
Zhang lost at the
2007 World Amateur Boxing Championships
The 2007 AIBA World Boxing Championships were held in Chicago, United States from October 23, 2007 to November 3, 2007. It was held at the UIC Pavilion. It was the biggest World Championships in AIBA history.
The competition is under the supe ...
to Ukrainian
Vyacheslav Glazkov
Vyacheslav Valeriyovych Glazkov ( uk, В'ячеслав Валерійович Глазков, born 15 October 1984) is a Ukrainian former professional boxer who competed from 2009 to 2016. He challenged once for the vacant IBF heavyweight titl ...
in the semifinals but qualified for the
2008 Summer Olympics. There he settled for silver, losing the final by KO to Italy's
Roberto Cammarelle
Roberto Cammarelle (born 22 March 1980) is an Italian amateur boxer, best known for winning the World Amateur Boxing Championships in 2007 (Chicago) and 2009 (Milan) as a super heavyweight and a gold medal at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. ...
.
At the
2009 World Amateur Boxing Championships, he again lost the semi to a Ukrainian in
Roman Kapitanenko 2:5.
He qualified for the
2012 Olympics in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
but was defeated on points by future unified
heavyweight world champion,
Anthony Joshua of the United Kingdom in the quarterfinals.
Olympic Games results
2008 (as a Super heavyweight)
*Defeated
Mohamed Amanissi (Morocco) 15-0
*Defeated
Ruslan Myrsatayev (Kazakhstan) 12-2
*Defeated
Vyacheslav Glazkov
Vyacheslav Valeriyovych Glazkov ( uk, В'ячеслав Валерійович Глазков, born 15 October 1984) is a Ukrainian former professional boxer who competed from 2009 to 2016. He challenged once for the vacant IBF heavyweight titl ...
(Ukraine) walk-over
*Lost to
Roberto Cammarelle
Roberto Cammarelle (born 22 March 1980) is an Italian amateur boxer, best known for winning the World Amateur Boxing Championships in 2007 (Chicago) and 2009 (Milan) as a super heavyweight and a gold medal at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. ...
(Italy) RSCO
2012 (as a Super heavyweight)
*Defeated
Johan Linde (Australia) RSCO
*Lost to
Anthony Joshua (Great Britain) 11-15
World Championships results
2003 (as a Super heavyweight)
*Lost to
Grzegorz Kiełsa (Poland) 8-22
2005 (as a Super heavyweight)
*Defeated
Vugar Alekperov (Azerbaijan) 20-11
*Lost to
Odlanier Solis (Cuba) 7-17
2007 (as a Super heavyweight)
*Defeated Nurpais Torobekov (Kyrgyzstan) RSCO
*Defeated Rustam Rygebayev (Kazakhstan) 20-10
*Defeated
Daniel Beahan (Australia) KO 2
*Lost to
Vyacheslav Glazkov
Vyacheslav Valeriyovych Glazkov ( uk, В'ячеслав Валерійович Глазков, born 15 October 1984) is a Ukrainian former professional boxer who competed from 2009 to 2016. He challenged once for the vacant IBF heavyweight titl ...
(Ukraine) 11-21
2009 (as a Super heavyweight)
*Defeated Primislav Dimovski (Macedonia) 6-2
*Lost to
Roman Kapitanenko (Ukraine) 2-5
Professional career
On March 10, 2014, in New York City, Zhilei Zhang announced that he would be turning pro. Zhang signed a promotional agreement with Dynasty Boxing, which is a promotional firm that specializes in the Chinese market.
Zhang knocked out Curtis Tate in the first 17 seconds of round one in his pro debut in Fallon, Nevada, on August 8, 2014.
Zhang compiled a perfect record of 20–0 before fighting
Andriy Rudenko
Andriy Volodymyrovych Rudenko ( uk, Андрій Володимирович Руденко, born 4 September 1983) is a Ukrainian professional boxer
Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxin ...
in
Monaco
Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...
on 30 November 2019. He dominated the Ukrainian veteran and secured a convincing unanimous decision win, winning on all three scorecards, 99–91, 98–92 and 97–93.
In his next fight on 7 November 2020, Zhang fought
Devin Vargas
Devin Vargas (born December 25, 1981) is an American professional boxer. As an amateur, he won a bronze medal at the 2003 Pan American Games and competed at the 2004 Olympics, both in the heavyweight division.
Amateur career
Vargas had a ...
on the undercard of the
WBC lightweight
Lightweight is a weight class in combat sports and rowing.
Boxing
Professional boxing
The lightweight division is over 130 pounds (59 kilograms) and up to 135 pounds (61.2 kilograms) weight class in the sport of boxing.
Notable lightweight ...
title fight between
Devin Haney
Devin Miles Haney (; born November 17, 1998) is an American professional boxer. He is the current undisputed lightweight champion, having held the WBC title since 2019 and the WBA (Super), IBF, WBO and ''Ring'' titles since June 2022. As of ...
and
Yuriorkis Gamboa
Yuriorkis Gamboa Toledano (born 23 December 1981) is a Cuban professional boxer. He is a former unified featherweight world champion, having held the WBA and IBF titles between 2009 and 2011, as well as the WBA interim championship in both t ...
. In his debut as a
Matchroom Boxing
Matchroom Sport is a sporting event promotions company founded by English entrepreneur Barry Hearn and run by Hearn and his son Eddie Hearn. It first came to attention in the sports of snooker and boxing and is also involved in pool, bowling, go ...
fighter. Zhang dropped and stopped his opponent in the fourth round.
He returned to the ring on 27 February 2021, to fight journeyman Jerry Forrest on the undercard of the
super-middleweight title fight between
Canelo Álvarez
Santos Saúl "Canelo" Álvarez Barragán (; born 18 July 1990) is a Mexican professional boxer. He has won multiple world championships in four weight classes from light middleweight to light heavyweight, including unified titles in three of ...
and
Avni Yıldırım
Avni Yıldırım (born 5 August 1991) is a Turkish professional boxer. He challenged for the IBO super-middleweight title in 2017, the WBC super-middleweight title in 2019, and the WBA (Super), WBC, and ''Ring'' magazine super-middleweight ti ...
. Although Zhang started strong, scoring three knockdowns in the opening three rounds of the bout, Forrest was able to battle his way back to earn a
majority draw
A majority draw is an outcome in several full-contact combat sports, including boxing, mixed martial arts
Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referre ...
. The final scorecards read 95–93 Forrest, 93–93, and 93–93, with the irregular scores owing to a point deduction against Zhang for excessive holding. It was revealed that after the fight, Zhang was hospitalised and later diagnosed with "
anemia
Anemia or anaemia (British English) is a blood disorder in which the blood has a reduced ability to carry oxygen due to a lower than normal number of red blood cells, or a reduction in the amount of hemoglobin. When anemia comes on slowly, t ...
, high
enzyme
Enzymes () are proteins that act as biological catalysts by accelerating chemical reactions. The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different molecules known as products ...
levels, and low-level
renal failure
Kidney failure, also known as end-stage kidney disease, is a medical condition in which the kidneys can no longer adequately filter waste products from the blood, functioning at less than 15% of normal levels. Kidney failure is classified as eit ...
that may have been caused by severe
dehydration
In physiology, dehydration is a lack of total body water, with an accompanying disruption of metabolic processes. It occurs when free water loss exceeds free water intake, usually due to exercise, disease, or high environmental temperature. Mil ...
".
On 27 November 2021, Zhang faced Craig Lewis on the undercard of
Teófimo López vs. George Kambosos Jr. Zhang started the fight off slowly, but dropped Lewis twice in round two, leading Lewis' corner to throw in the towel, giving Zhang a TKO win.
Zhang was scheduled to fight
Filip Hrgović in an IBF title eliminator on 7 May 2022. However, Hrgović pulled out of the fight on 2 May, stating that he had not been able to focus during his training camp due to the death of his father. Scott Alexander was chosen as the replacement fight on the
Canelo Álvarez vs. Dmitry Bivol undercard, with the fight being dropped from the co-main to the undercard. Zhang won the bout via first-round knockout. His fight against Hrgović was rescheduled for 20 August 2022, in
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on the undercard of
Oleksandr Usyk vs Anthony Joshua II. On that night, Zhang knocked down Hrgović in the first round with a right hand shot. After a close-fought battle over twelve rounds, the judges awarded the fight to Hrgović with scores of 115–112 twice and 114–113, in what was described as a "generous" decision by broadcaster
Sky Sports
Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...
after a "bizarre" performance by Hrgović.
Zhang vs. Joyce
On 2 February 2023, it was officially announced that Zhang would be returning to the ring at the
Copper Box Arena
The Copper Box Arena is a multi-sport venue built for the 2012 Summer Olympics, located in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London, England.
Previously known as the Handball Arena, it was renamed because, aside from handball, it hosted mo ...
in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
, England on 15 April, against undefeated
WBO interim
An interim is a period of temporary pause or change in a sequence of events, or a temporary state, and is often applied to transitional political entities.
Interim may also refer to:
Temporary organizational arrangements (general concept)
*Provis ...
champion
Joe Joyce.
On 15 April 2023, Zhang defeated
Joe Joyce and secured the WBO interim heavyweight title.
Personal life
As of March 2021, Zhang was residing in
Bloomfield, New Jersey
Bloomfield is a township in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, the township's population was 53,105. It surrounds the Bloomfield Green Historic District.
History
The initial patent for the land that w ...
.
Professional boxing record
See also
*
List of southpaw stance boxers
References
External links
*
Zhilei Zhang - Profile, News Archive & Current Rankingsa
Box.Live*
Results (amateur-boxing.strefa.pl)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zhang, Zhilei
1983 births
Living people
Chinese male boxers
People from Zhoukou
Sportspeople from Henan
Boxers at the 2008 Summer Olympics
Boxers at the 2012 Summer Olympics
Olympic boxers for China
Olympic silver medalists for China
Olympic medalists in boxing
Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics
AIBA World Boxing Championships medalists
Southpaw boxers
Heavyweight boxers
Super-heavyweight boxers
Asian Games medalists in boxing
Medalists at the 2010 Asian Games
Boxers at the 2010 Asian Games
Asian Games gold medalists for China