Reporter Ni Zhaozhong and intern Wang Zijie report from Beijing.
Recently, there has been a lot of good news in the domestic sports world. At the Hangzhou Asian Games, domestic athletes won more than 200 gold medals, ranking first among participating countries. Around that time, Chinese heavyweight Zhang Zhilei defeated his opponent Joyce again in late September to defend his WBO (World Boxing Organization) World Interim Champion.
On April 16 this year, Zhang Zhilei defeated WBO interim boxing champion Joyce and became the new transitional boxing champion. Subsequently, the opponent decided to activate the rematch clause in the contract between the two, and Zhang Zhilei was able to fight him again, which was scheduled for late September.
In the rematch, Zhang Zhilei only needed 3 rounds to knock out Joyce at home, firmly defending the WBO heavyweight transitional champion belt in his hand. After that, he can use this result to challenge Orekosandr Usyk, the WBA, IBF, and WBO champion, and have a chance to challenge for the "World No. 1" belt.
After the competition, Zhang Zhilei returned to China. He went back to his hometown, visited his relatives, went to other places to participate in activities, and even went to see the Asian Games. During this time, he gave ** an update on his recent situation, which was also his first post-match interview.
In the interview, he revealed the "secret" to winning the match in three rounds, and he used the "killer weapon" - he said that he would hit the opponent in the eye before the match, and when the opponent focused on protecting his eyes, he took advantage of the air to sneak up on the abdomen. Speaking of the Asian Games, he said that the Chinese athletes have a high level and have won honor for the country. Some fans made the trip for him, and he was flattered by his enthusiasm.
After a short trip back home, he will return to the United States to embark on a new journey to challenge for the world champion.
Zhang Zhilei's life photos. Photo courtesy of the interviewee.
Competition: "I am a tiger, and there is a price to pay for it".
Confidence is something that Zhang Zhilei has always had in the fight with Joyce. In a fight in April this year, Joyce, who was favored by the outside world, was defeated by Zhang Zhilei, and Zhang Zhilei in the rematch was more confident, claiming to knock out his opponent, and he confirmed this sentence with his actions.
In the second battle against Joyce, Zhang Zhilei made sufficient preparations. In order to train more precisely, Zhang and his team also adjusted the sparring boxers to the characteristics of their opponents, so that they could face opponents who were constantly throwing heavy punches and were heavier. In terms of physical fitness, Zhang Zhilei changed to a new physical coach, reformulated the training plan, and made specific plans for the weekly training program.
What particularly impressed Zhang Zhilei was the training in the low-pressure oxygen chamber. To improve his cardiopulmonary fitness, he needs to simulate training at an altitude of 2,300 to 3,000 meters. After 40 minutes of intense training, he felt suffocated and his oxygen saturation was reduced to dangerous levels, and he learned how to adjust his breathing and heartbeat when he couldn't breathe. It's these intense training sessions that give him the confidence to have an edge against Joyce.
The difficult physical training made Zhang Zhilei feel "full of confidence", and he not only had physical advantages, but also used his flexible mind and psychological offensive and defensive battles. During the war, Zhang Zhilei claimed that he still had a killer weapon that he didn't use. Before this game, he also released words to confuse the opponent, saying that he wanted to hit the opponent in the eye. But he put the actual breakthrough point in the belly of the opponent, hoping to seize the moment when the opponent lost. Throughout the game, Zhang Zhilei kept his mind clear, and after observing the first 2 rounds and measuring the distance with his back hand, he finally quickly countered Joyce's attack and won the game in only 3 rounds.
The victory in the rematch not only allowed Zhang Zhilei to firmly defend the WBO heavyweight interim boxing championship belt in his hand, but also brought the big Chinese boxer, nicknamed "Big **", one step closer to the "World Boxing Champion".
Future: "Age is just a number for me".
After ending the battle with Joyce, Zhang Zhilei caught up with the opening of the Hangzhou Asian Games. It was his first time home after more than a decade of training abroad, and he was also a participant in the Asian Games. At the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games, Zhang Zhilei won the gold medal. Now, he hopes that Chinese athletes can achieve good results and win glory for the country.
At Hangzhou Airport and high-speed rail station, Zhang Zhilei was shocked by the enthusiasm of fans. These fans who rushed to Hangzhou from all over the country to greet him made him feel super high-standard treatment. Some fans drove for seven or eight hours to arrive, but they still didn't have the opportunity to take photos with Zhang Zhilei and get autographs, and Zhang Zhilei felt sorry.
After defeating Joyce, Zhang Zhilei's first reaction was that he had finally cleared the road in front of him and would challenge a stronger opponent. After his trip back to China, he will return to the United States to train against the world champion. When the other party completes the competition in late October, Zhang Zhilei's brokerage team and promoters will discuss the specific matters of the challenge.
After winning a fight with Joyce in April this year, Zhang Zhilei was known as China's first heavyweight boxing champion in China. Zhang Zhilei knows the weight of the name, and before him, the Chinese had never achieved such a high level in the heavyweight boxing arena, and he did make history.
In Zhang Zhilei's view, world-class heavyweight boxing has always been monopolized by Europe and the United States, and now he has stood at the peak of the world's heavyweight boxing competition. The title of China's first heavyweight champion gave him the motivation to keep going.
Forty is not confused, age has not become Zhang Zhilei's anxiety. Although the 2021 competition was met with skepticism, Zhang Zhilei and his team have a deep grasp of what happened, and all they have to do is correct their mistakes and make themselves stronger.
For the future, Zhang Zhilei did not make a specific plan for the year. "If you can't fight, then you won't fight. But his boxing path doesn't stop with the end of the fight. Even if he can't stand on the stage, he will still engage in boxing-related work, and he hopes to let more Chinese young people understand, contact, and join the boxing team, fulfill their own dreams, and make Chinese boxing stronger and stronger.
Editor: Hao Cheng Proofreader: Yan Jingning).