A hero’s homecoming is being eyed for heavyweight Zhilei Zhang should the 40-year-old emerge victorious over former WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker Friday in Saudi Arabia.
Zhang’s promoter Bob Arum told Boxing Scene on Monday that he intends for Zhang (26-1-1, 21 KOs) to headline a card in his native China later this year should he find a way to topple Parker.
“The plan is to have him fight in Macao,” Arum said. “A good fight; it’ll be against a top-10 guy.”
Both Zhang and New Zealand’s Parker (34-3, 23 KOs) occupy consensus top-five spots in various publications’ heavyweight ratings.
The Ring has Zhang at three following his second consecutive triumph over Joe Joyce – a third-round knockout in September – with Parker at four following his dominant showing over former WBC champion Deontay Wilder in December.
Zhang, nicknamed “Big Bang,” will find his power tested by a gritty Parker who has only been finished one time previously – by Joyce in 2022 – while going the distance in losses to Anthony Joshua and Dillian Whyte and previously claiming the WBO belt over another impressive puncher, Andy Ruiz.
Zhang-Parker is the co-main event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, under the main event pitting Joshua versus the former UFC champion Francis Ngannou.
Ngannou earned the fight by virtue of his narrow October 28 defeat by WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, whom Ngannou knocked down during the bout.
Arum is obviously intrigued by Zhang’s bout and in how Ngannou will fare against a second consecutive fighter who has stood as heavyweight champion.
Yet the 92-year-old Top Rank chairman said it’s the one trip he’s sitting out during the first half of 2024, given his abundance of coming global travel.
Arum is venturing to Tokyo on May 6 for fighter-of-the-year Naoya Inoue’s super-bantamweight title defense versus Luis Nery. Then he’s on to Perth, Australia, on May 12 for the former three-division champion Vasiliy Lomachenko’s lightweight bout against former lightweight champion George Kambosos Jr.
On May 18, Arum’s fighter Fury meets three-belt champion Oleksandr Usyk in Riyadh, and two weeks after that, his three-belt light-heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev meets Russian countryman Dmitrii Bivol for the undisputed title, also in Saudi Arabia.
“So much travel … ,” Arum said.
And, maybe more to come with Zhang’s China homecoming, too.