Just as Ngannou has been given an opportunity, Parker and Zhang may be rewarded for their recent success. Zhang beat Joe Joyce in back-to-back fights to become the the new WBO interim heavyweight champion. He bounced back from his defeat to Filip Hrgovic, which was costly since he was deprived of the chance to become the IBF interim heavyweight champion. He can still face the winner of Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk, but the IBF mandatory will be called first. Either way, Zhang vs Parker is a big fight with much on the line. 

Parker Vs. Zhang

After the Parker fight, there are other options for Zhang. He was initially linked with a fight against Wilder before the Parker fight once Joshua vs Ngannou was confirmed.

“Deontay Wilder and Zhilei Zhang reportedly could return on the undercard of Anthony Joshua vs Francis Ngannou, which may in fact take place on Friday, March 8th. It’s claimed Wilder and Zhang could fight each other or appear in separate fights,” SIChrisMannix said 

Zhang Vs. Wilder

Such a fight provides both men with a chance to earn statement wins. Wilder has not had a big-name win on his resume, as he has lost to his two toughest opponents, Fury and Parker. 

While he beat Luis Ortiz twice, the Cuban was much older. The fights also showed that Wilder was losing comprehensively on the scorecards before his right hand bailed him out. As for Zhang, at 40, he is looking to secure the biggest fights possible, knowing he may have little time left at the top level in the heavyweight division. After the win over Joyce, Zhang did call out Joshua and Wilder. Joshua fell through after Zhang accused Eddie Hearn of keeping him away from the Brit since he was one of the names mentioned before Ngannou. 

“I never thought this fight would be made. I think there’s one more person, Eddie Hearn, who will not let Anthony Joshua fight me. It’s too much of a risk. When I signed with Matchroom a couple of years ago that was one of the conversations we had. My management team flew to London and sat down with everybody to talk about it. It’s been years since that, and this fight never materialised. They know how to successfully avoid this,” Zhang said