Zhilei Zhang has once again claimed that he is being left out in the cold after Anthony Joshua-Francis Ngannou was announced.
Zhang is now legitimately something of an avoided heavyweight. He had two huge back-to-back wins last year against the formerly much-hyped Joe Joyce.
In both contests with the Brit, the Chinese big man put on solid showings and, without taking much damage himself, managed to break down and stop former Olympian Joyce inside the distance, which is something no man had managed to do or even get close to doing in the professional ring.
He has since called out the likes of Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua but it yet to announce a fight. Now, speaking to Boxing News, he was asked about his views on Joshua facing Ngannou instead.
“I can’t say I’m disappointed it’s a matter of personal choice, Joshua has his personal choice. If you look at Ngannou, he’s come into the sport and has a record of 0 and 1. He’s the cash cow. If I fought Ngannou I would make a ton of money. What is boxing, is it a business or a competitive sport, that’s the question.”
He was then asked about the confidence he had in his own fight with Joshua having previously been listed by promoter Eddie Hearn as a potential opponent.
“Actually I never thought this fight would be made. If Joshua believes he only has 40% chance he can beat me, it won’t happen. I don’t even think it’s a 60-40 in his head. Eddie Hearn will not let him fight me. It’s too much of a risk.”
He went on to say that he and Joshua has long been discussed, but believes Hearn stands in the way.
“When I signed with Matchroom a couple of years ago, that was one of the conversations we had. My team flew to London to talk about it but it’s been years and it never materialised. They know how to avoid all the risks.”
“That’s how he [Hearn] does his work as a promoter, he builds up whatever he wants to build up. I believe they successfully avoided all the risks but I don’t know if this fight will ever happen in the future, they will just keep using my name to build up whatever they want to build up.””
Zhang has long promised he would end Joshua’s career should the two meet but it seems less and less likely he is going to get that chance, though he is strongly rumoured to be fighting on the same card in March.