Zhilei Zhang has endured a frustrating year, with big-name fights not making it to the ring, according to his manager Terry Lane.
Zhang (27-3-1, 22 KOs) was last in action over a year ago, losing a sixth-round stoppage to Germany’s Agit Kabayel despite scoring a knockdown in the fifth.
It was reported in February that UK heavyweight David Allen was in negotiations to face the Chinese southpaw, with Allen telling First Round TV: “I think it’s going to be Zhilei Zhang.”
Now, Lane has exclusively told Boxing Social about the options available to one of his premier clients.
“Mr. Allen, one of my favourite people, he was out in the press saying that he was interested in a fight with us,” Lane said. “I simply sent him a direct message on Instagram to open a line of communication back in October.”
“I can say there is interest in the fight.”
“Has there been a smidge of truth about some talks about the fight? I can say yes, but on our end there has been no talk about the fight recently.”
Allen (25-8-2, 20 KOs) reignited his career with a brutal fifth-round knockout against fellow Englishman, Johnny Fisher, 14 months ago. The 33-year-old would go on to be outpointed by Arslanbek Makhmudov in Sheffield in his native Yorkshire. Allen has returned to winning ways with a first-round knockout over the little-known Karim Berredjem last month.
“I think it’s something that could be great fun for UK fans and we would be happy to explore it,” Lane continued. “He’s been out of the ring for over a year and it’s been very frustrating. He had a procedure done following the Kabayel loss where he had some calcium deposits in his right elbow that have caused him great pain his entire professional career. It was actually the same procedure he had done in the amateurs.
“He was back training in June and then we got a call to fight Fabio Wardley, but the powers that be decided to go with Joseph Parker. We didn’t get the fight obviously, but the talks we were in were quite advanced. And then we got into very advanced talks for a Derek Chisora fight in December that he didn’t end up taking. Then we got into talks to fight Daniel Dubois in April, then all of a sudden that fight got ripped from us too.
“It’s just been a very frustrating time where Zhilei has said ‘yes’ a lot and for one reason or another those fights have not materialized. So, with David Allen, no disrespect to him, he is just not the top of our list. We still love the Anthony Joshua fight, we still love the Tyson Fury fight.”
Much of the heavyweight division is tied up over the coming weeks. Chisora squares off with Deontay Wilder on April 4, with Fury locking horns with Makhmudov the week after, while Wardley defends his WBO title on May 9 against Dubois.
“Coming off the loss, Zhilei is in a dangerous spot,” Lane explained. “He’s a hard-hitting southpaw and he also doesn’t have that mandatory spot. Getting these guys in the ring is extremely tough. There was actually a fourth fight. We got a call not too long ago about possibly fighting Lawrence Okolie. Then I woke up two days later and saw the news that he was fighting Tony Yoka in Paris. It was the fourth go-around of getting a call and bringing it to my fighter. I have a very unhappy client right now. It doesn’t look great on me that everything I have brought to him since July has just not happened.
“But he’s a very positive guy. He actually opened a restaurant with a partner in New York; it’s a great restaurant. He also got to carry the torch for China pre-2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, which is a great honor for him. He’s been keeping busy. He always stays training and he’s a guy that stays disciplined. He’s ready to go as soon as we get the right call and somebody gets in the ring with him.”
Zhang’s experience in England has been fruitful with back-to-back victories against Joe Joyce in 2023. The towering Olympic silver medalist produced two impressive knockout performances in London.
“He considers the UK to be his lucky place obviously,” Lane added. “We very much want to go back there to fight. The likelihood that he will go back there to fight is very, very high. All the great heavyweights are in the UK. The UK fans love Zhang and Zhang loves the UK fans. We just want to get back there and fight. There are the three guys we said yes to who have found other matches, but there is a ton of names over there. We love the Fabio Wardley fight for our guy. We absolutely love that fight. Zhilei has the style. He’s a big-hitting southpaw and he can box a bit. When he is on, he’s tough to beat. I think Zhilei would stop him before the 6th round.”
