Zhilei Zhang says he knew he was hurting Deontay Wilder with his shots in the second round of their fight last Saturday night in Riyadh.
Former WBO interim heavyweight champion Zhang was forcing Wilder to go his way by cutting him off in the ring. This wouldn't matter if Wilder was aggressive and throwing punches, but he's fighting in self-defense.
Zhang (27-2-1, 22 KOs) says he saw that Wilder (43-4-1, 42 KOs) was injured because his eyes were not focused. He continued to hurt Wilder with shots in the third and fourth rounds and finally knocked out the “confused” former WBC heavyweight champion in the fifth.
Learning and Development
“Hrgovic's fight. I believe, and I tell everyone that I have lost the battle on paper, but I believe that I have won the battle. It's on my record. I learned from the war, I came back stronger,” said Zhilei Zhang on BoxNation, talking about his loss to Filip Hrgovic in 2022.
Zhang looked good after his fight with Hrgovic until last March, when he came into the fight against Joseph Parker weighing in at 291 lbs, the heaviest of the 12-round bout.
“Since I fought Hrgovic, I took a big step forward. I learned, and I improved. After the Parker fight, I learned, and improved. “Whenever something frustrates me, I brace myself, and this is how I behave outside and inside the ring,” continued Zhang.
Wilder Knockout
“Everything happened in the second round, I hit him with a big shot in the second round. I saw his unfocused eyes. “So, I knew I scored my big goal in the second round,” said Zhang about knocking out Deontay Wilder in the second round last Saturday night.
In the second round, Zhang caught Wilder on the ropes and landed several heavy punches that caught his attention. He took them because they weren't fully assembled, but you could tell he was shocked.
“I did the same in the third round. So, I knew I hurt him, so I did it a fourth time,” said Zhang. “When I caught him with a right hook [in round five], he was confused and turned around. I changed and finished my job.”
What was strange was how Wilder threw his right hand when he moved to the right, and his feet were not there when he threw the shot. It looked bad with the way Wilder threw the punch, but it left him open for Zhang's hook, which spun him around. Zhang then landed another right that put Wilder down.
“It's not that Wilder wants to go somewhere,” Zhang said. “I am the one who put him in that place because if I know him, if he moves on my left side, which is his right side, he wanted to oppose me directly on the left. He was looking to hit me or counter me with my left, but I didn't let him do that.
“I cut him off and forced him to go the other way. Let me tell you. He is still strong. The first few rounds, he threw big bombs, big right hands. I was able to catch them, but I felt the force in my gloves.”
The right hands that Wilder connected in the fifth round to Zhang's head were thrown to his feet. He was moving a lot and sitting on the ground shooting the way he needed to in order to have a chance to hurt Zhang.
“In the fifth round, he landed two right hands. One of them is on my forehead. I felt it,” Zhang said of Wilder.
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