WBO Interim World Heavyweight champion Joe “Big Juggernaut” Joyce (15-0, 14 KOs) defends his title against Chinese titan Zhilei “Big Bang” Zhang (24-1-1, 19 KOs) at the Copper Box Arena in London.
Watch a fight preview on the Top Rank YouTube channel: Watch
Despite losing his most recent bout against Filip Hrgovic by a questionable decision in 12 rounds in August 2022, Zhang is still given a chance to challenge Joyce for his interim championship. Zhang, a two-time Olympian, put up a good fight, and many boxing aficionados declared him the winner afterward. In a perfect world, Hrgovic would have challenged Zhang again, but that didn't happen.
His opponent, The “Big Juggernaut” Joyce makes his first defense of the championship after thrillingly defeating Joseph Parker in Manchester in September 2022 to earn a crack at the complete WBO title.
Watch the official weigh-in live on YouTube: Watch
"This is another cracker of a card that should be in keeping with the special night we all just enjoyed at Wembley," said promoter Frank Warren. "We want to keep Big Joe busy while the heavyweight title scene unfolds but there can be no easy touches in a defense of his WBO Interim title. Zhilei Zhang is anything but an easy touch, he is a formidable powerhouse who can consider himself unlucky not to be still an unbeaten contender following his fight with Filip Hrgovic last year.”
In the co-main event of the evening, former unified junior lightweight champion Mikaela Mayer (17-1, 5 KOs) will meet Lucy Wildheart (10-1, 4 KOs), after Mayer’s original opponent former two-time junior welterweight world champion Christina Linardatou (14-2, 6 KOs) was denied a license by the British Boxing Board of Control due to a permanent contact lens in one of her eyes.
Main card:
▪️Joe Joyce vs. Zhilei Zhang, 12 rounds, for Joyce's WBO interim world heavyweight title ▪️Mikaela Mayer vs. Lucy Wildheart, 10 rounds, female lightweights ▪️Moses Itauma vs. Kostiantyn Dovbyshchenko, 6 rounds, heavyweight ▪️Sam Noakes vs. Karthik Sathish Kumar, 12 rounds, for Noakes’ Commonwealth lightweight title
Undercard:
▪️Denzel Bentley vs. Kieran Smith,12 rounds, for Bentley’s British middleweight title ▪️Sonny Liston Ali vs. Richard Helm, 6 rounds, junior welterweight ▪️Joel Kodua vs. Seamus Devlin, 4 rounds, junior middleweight ▪️Eithan James vs. Georgi Velichkov, 6 rounds, welterweight ▪️Gyimah Seth vs. Darryl Sharp, 4 rounds, light heavyweight
