Chinese heavyweight giant, Zhilei Zhang, is in camp for his rematch with Brit Joe Joyce later in the year, but has spared some time to brand Tyson Fury a “disgrace.”
Following his first professional loss against Filip Hrgovic last summer, Zhang bounced back by becoming the first man to stop ‘Juggernaut’ Joyce back in April. After that win, he was reportedly “very close” to making a fight with Fury for his WBC world title.
Instead, Joyce activated his right to a rematch and so the pair will come to blows once more in London on September 23 at Wembley Area.
Speaking to Standard Sport via Fee Bets, the 40-yer-old Zhang reckons “that fight [with Fury] is going to happen, one way or another.”
Of course, that is dependent on Zhang beating Joyce a second time, and Fury coming through his fight in Saudi Arabia on October 28 against former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou.
It’s that cross-discipline bout that has angered Zhang, who sees Fury as ducking his main challengers.
“When you look at Tyson Fury – he avoided [Anthony] Joshua, he avoided [Oleksandr] Usyk. He chose to fight somebody who has never been in the ring before.
[Francis Ngannou] is a novice, he’s just turning pro. Yes he’s a UFC champion and I have respect for him, but when it comes to the ring it’s a different story. So Tyson Fury I think is a disgrace to the sport of boxing. Shame on him.”
Should Zhang beat Joyce again, he will be right in the frame to challenge for the WBO title against whoever comes out on top between current champion Usyk and challenger Daniel Dubois in August.