A few days ago, the current WBO heavyweight interim boxing champion Zhang Zhilei was interviewed on the program "Seconds Out", before entering the ring, he was not disturbed, and his eyes were only focused on one man, he was the former WBO heavyweight world boxing champion Joseph Parker.
On March 8 this year, Zhang Zhilei, as the world's best heavyweight boxer, will face off against New Zealand's Joseph Parker at the Kingdom of Riyadh Arena in Saudi Arabia. Zhang is currently working with his training team, including coach Sean George, to train and video the film in order to delve deeper into Joseph Parker.
I'm using my spare time to play Joseph Parker's past events, and it's more of an amateur personal act. Nowadays, whenever I eat, I always think of Joseph Parker, and when I go to the bathroom, Joseph Parker comes to mind, and I have developed the habit that clips of Joseph Parker's past games always come to mind. ”
On December 23 last year, Joseph Parker put on a standout performance in his "Day of Trial" event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where he unanimously defeated former WBC heavyweight world champion Deonta Wilder by a very clear margin. This fight is regarded as the number one upset throughout the 2023 professional boxing event.
Many people blame Deonta Wilder's defeat on a long period of time away from the court, but Zhang Zhilei feels that this is still a strong performance of Joseph Parker, and Zhang Zhilei has also made a very high evaluation of Joseph Parker in interviews on various occasions.
Deonta Wild's long absence from the Circle, as well as Joseph Parker's stellar performance in boxing, were the reasons for the bout's result. Because of this, I pay attention to his every move. Zhang Zhilei explained in an interview.
I don't know who I'm going to fight against after my first win over Joe Joyce last year. In view of the fact that Joseph Parker was the WBO World Champion, I got in touch with the Joseph Parker promotion team, and at that time I got a negative answer from his group, but at that time Joseph Parker was on vacation and did not know what happened, perhaps because of a misunderstanding in the exchange, but finally Joseph Parker agreed. Zhang Zhilei said in an interview.
The current WBO heavyweight provisional boxing title is irrelevant to Zhang Zhilei, but he has the mandatory right to challenge the WBO heavyweight world boxing title, but this year's WBO heavyweight world boxing champion Olek Sandel Usyk will start a heavyweight world boxing title showdown with Tyson Fury in May this year, and this showdown also has a rematch provision, so Joseph Parker has become Zhang Zhilei's best choice.
For me personally, the most important task is to defeat Joseph Parker. If I can't defeat him, then all my goals will not be achieved. So, the only event I'm interested in at the moment is the matchup with Joseph Parker on March 8. Zhang Zhilei said in an interview.
In the course of the interview, Zhang Zhilei further said that he is likely to compete with Oleksandr Usyk for the title of world boxing champion in the future, rather than choosing Tyson Fury. But Zhang Zhilei also admitted frankly that now, Tyson Fury still has an advantage.
If Tyson Fury's training camp is of good quality, he'll be in a good position to compete. I'm sure many people agree with my understanding, but when the name Tyson Fury comes to mind, it's a variable in him that you don't know when he will have any problems or announce anything, and it's not a coincidence that he's suddenly retired.
I feel like I have a better chance of getting the WBO interim heavyweight title against Oleksandr Usyk. Zhang Zhilei analyzed in an interview with reporters that there was more or less helplessness between the words.