When it comes to heavyweight boxing, especially one of the champions, any news tends to be some of the most sought out ones in boxing. Within the last 48 hours, rumors have intensified surrounding the potential of Tyson “The Gypsy King” Fury (33-0-1, 24 KOs) facing one of the hottest names in the division Zhilei “Big Bang” Zhang (25-1-1, 20 KOs).
Although Zhang’s name was warm but not hot after the Filip Hrgovic fight, he was able to set it on fire by destroying one of the most avoided heavyweights in the division, Joe Joyce. It took Zhang six rounds, but he broke down and put away “The Juggernaut” in a fight where he wasn’t the odds favorite to win, especially since it was hosted in the UK. Zhang showed fight fans what most boxing sharps already knew, and that was Zhang is a natural pugilist who would give many heavyweights a ton of problems.
Zhilei Zhang pulls off the upset victory over Joe Joyce with a dominant performance that ends in a 6th round stoppage 💥 pic.twitter.com/WSd3afcUrq
— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) April 15, 2023
While Zhang was handling Joyce, WBC champ Fury was trying to figure out his next opponent. After several social media posts about the Usyk fight not happening, his wife being pregnant with their soon-to-be seventh child, saying that a fight announcement was ‘imminent,’ the “Gypsy King” went quiet, and nothing came out of Team Fury until the rumors of late.
Something that fueled the speculation of a fight was Zhang going on Instagram and giving fans a roundup of the division’s landscape. “Heavyweight boxing is chaos now. After winning the interim title, I should have the right to challenge (Oleksandr) Usyk, who has a commitment with (Daniel) Dubois. I wish to fight Tyson Fury the most, but Fury is picking between me and (Andy) Ruiz Jr. Ruiz was in a legal battle a while back; Joshua doesn’t want to fight me. This goes without saying, Whyte and Chisora has told the team that they didn’t want to fight me. Wilder was involved in a police case yesterday in Los Angeles. He believed that ‘It’s better to be judged by 12 than carried by six’ sigh. Is it getting harder or easier? I think we will find out very soon.”
Although sources indicate that the talks have been initiated, Top Rank’s Founder and CEO Bob Arum told Ringside reporter that the fight between Fury-Zhang is “likely to be July, and we would like to close it out by this weekend.” Let’s not ever think for a second that Arum isn’t using the media to try and push Ruiz Jr. to accept whatever terms have been offered to him. Arum is a savvy 91-year-old who knows how to use leverage. He hasn’t been in the game this long for nothing.
After speaking to a source close to the Ruiz Jr. camp, both the Fury and Wilder options are still on the table for the former unified heavyweight champ, so it looks like it will come down to which opponent looks more vulnerable and gives Fury the more financial advantage.
Circling back to Zhang, he wants the Fury fight and is “ready to take the fight for July,” as he has mentioned. From a marketing perspective, the fight with Zhang makes more sense, and Fury could fill up Wembley, especially against a guy that tore apart one of their own in Joyce not too long ago. So do we see Fury vs. Zhang or Fury vs. Ruiz Jr? I will take either one, but something tells me that the 40-year-old Chinese heavyweight gets the call for the fight.
