When former heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder squares up against Zhilei Zhang he’ll be outweighed by 68.2 pounds. On Friday, Zhang weight in at 282.8 pounds and Wilder weight in at 214.6 pounds. ahead of their fight Saturday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, that will headline the Frank Warren-Eddie Hearn 5 vs. 5 event.
This fight is viewed as a elimination fight, neither fighter can afford to loose this fight or else their chances at competing for another championship will be all but over. Both fighters are coming off of a loss to fellow heavyweight Joseph Parker. With consecutive big wins, undoubtedly Parker has put himself in a position to be next in line for a title shot.
Wilder still passionate?
After Wilder’s loss to Parker, he hinted that he was contempt with walking away from boxing. Many fans questioned if he had any passion left after his trilogy against Tyson Fury. But Wilder says that he still has the desire to keep fighting at a high level.
“Either you have the fighting spirit or you don’t and I’m the type of person, I have it,” Wilder said. “I don’t have to be mad at you, I don’t have to dig up anything that you said. It will never go anywhere, it’s just tamed.” “Everybody wants to see that monster come out. But when he was here, people said ‘oh my god, he’s too messy for boxing, he talks too violently, he wants a body on his record’… everyone criticized me, everybody dragged my name through the dirt. Everybody thought I was bad for business.”
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