Zhilei Zhang is said to be open to a fight against Tyson Fury in Britain following his stunning third-round knockout win over Joe Joyce.
Zhang used a huge right hand to topple Joyce at Wembley Arena in their heavyweight rematch and now focuses on Fury, who returns on October 28 against Francis Ngannou, a former UFC champion, in Saudi Arabia.
Fury’s promotional team are hoping to revive talks with Oleksandr Usyk for an undisputed world title fight, but Zhang has emerged as another potential opponent for the WBC champion after back-to-back victories over Joyce in London.
“We would love to fight Fury, but I really believe they are trying to make Fury vs Usyk next,” Zhang’s co-manager Terry Lane told Sky Sports.
“We’ll have to see in a few weeks if they take that fight. If not, we’re not going to sit back and wait.
“There are other names like (Deontay) Wilder, so it’s just really hard to say, but I do think after last night there’s Usyk, Fury and Zhilei and then everyone else (in the heavyweight division).
“But Zhilei is 40 years old, he wants to fight big names and guys like Wilder are out there and we just have to wait and see what happens.”
Zhang said after his victory on Saturday night: “To the crowd, I want to ask you a question: do you want to see me silence Tyson Fury?”
According to Lane, Saudi Arabia would be the most likely venue for Fury vs Zhang, but he would ‘love’ to bring Zhang back to London for another big fight.
“If they don’t make Usyk and Fury, then Fury is our target. I think the new deal the Warrens have made with the Saudis will probably go there,” Lane said.
“The Fury fight makes more sense than in China or even Britain, but listen, we love fighting here so we would love to come back to Wembley, or even do it in New York or Vegas.”
Could the undisputed fight happen soon?
Chairman of the highest rank Todd DuBoef believes the Fury vs. Usyk fight will happen sooner or later, with every world heavyweight title on the line.
“Absolutely,” DuBoef said Air sports. “I think we were plagued by timing on this last go-around. The timing of both guys just didn’t match up and we tried to squeeze this fight in in the spring before the mandatory Dubois-Usyk had to happen.
“There were a lot of circumstances, so the good news is that Usyk came out of the fight with Dubois. Some people thought he didn’t look as good as they thought, but it was a very good, competitive fight.
“Tyson remains razor sharp and hopefully he’ll fight the baddest man in the world and they’ll go for it.
“I think it would be appropriate shortly after that, and the stars should align for timing purposes, that unification will happen very quickly.”
Oleksandr Usyk’s promoter Alex Krassyuk told us Air sports they remain hopeful and are willing to work with Fury’s team to make the fight happen.
“We have always been optimistic and cooperative,” Krassyuk said. “Usyk even accepted a 70/30 split (in favor of Fury) to make this happen.”