Deontay Wilder and Zhilei Zhang squared off in the main event live from Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Saturday, June 1. The scheduled for 12 rounds contest featured the former WBC heavyweight champion of Tuscaloosa, Alabama up against the former interim WBO titleholder of China. The pair battled it out in the headliner of the card titled “Queensberry vs Matchroom: 5vs5“.
The Chinese southpaw dominated his opponent all way to victory by TKO with a big right hook followed by another right hand. The dazzled American heavyweight managed to get back on his feet, but the referee deemed him unable to continue and waved the fight off. The official time was 1 minute and 51 second into the fifth round.
With the win, Zhilei Zhang improved to 27-2-1, 22 KOs and rebounded from the defeat via majority decision against Joseph Parker in March. The Bloomfield, New Jersey-based 41-year-old said he learned from previous outing and was successful in his fight against Wilder.
“When I lost to Parker, it was a fair loss,” Zhang said post fight via interpreter. “He was a better man that night. But I do think I’ve learned a lot from that fight, cause I after I knocked out Joe Joyce I was over confident and I underestimated Parker. I learned how to stay focused. As long as the bell doesn’t ring, stay focused.”
“I had to pay attention to his [Wilder’s] right hand, but I have successfully put his right hand away. I blocked a few punches, but yes, he punches hard. I give him a lot of respect, he is a heavy puncher.”
When asked what he wanted to do next, Zhang said: “Road to the champion. ‘Big bang’ is here.”
Deontay Wilder dropped to 43-4-1, 42 KOs. The 38-year-old former champion suffered his second defeat in a row.
Get Queensberry vs Matchroom: 5vs5 full fight card results.