{"id":301066,"date":"2023-12-01T11:24:04","date_gmt":"2023-12-01T11:24:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/?p=301066"},"modified":"2023-12-01T11:24:04","modified_gmt":"2023-12-01T11:24:04","slug":"zhilei-zhang-claims-he-was-in-talks-to-fight-francis-ngannou","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/boxing\/zhilei-zhang-claims-he-was-in-talks-to-fight-francis-ngannou\/","title":{"rendered":"Zhilei Zhang claims he WAS in talks to fight Francis Ngannou"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1><span>EXCLUSIVE<\/span> Zhilei Zhang claims he WAS in negotiations to fight Francis Ngannou on December 23rd card &#8211; but insists the MMA fighter-turned-boxer &#8216;didn&#8217;t want to do it&#8217;<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Zhilei Zhang has revealed that he was in talks to fight Francis Ngannou this year\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>However, he claims the MMA star turned down a bout on December 23rd\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>How compelling Katie Taylor toppled Chantelle Cameron in Dublin bloodbath &#8211; The Hook\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Heavyweight boxer Zhilei Zhang has revealed that he was in talks to fight Francis Ngannou in December &#8211; before the Cameroonian pulled out of negotiations.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Chinese heavyweight recorded consecutive wins over Joe Joyce this year, with a devastating right hook earning him victory in their September bout.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s seen the 40-year-old become the WBO interim world champion &#8211; but will have to wait for Tyson Fury and OIeksandr Usyk to settle their differences before getting the opportunity to unify his title.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>It leaves Zhang in a tricky position and in need of an opponent, which he has now claimed could&#8217;ve been MMA fighter-turned-boxer Francis Ngannou.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The former UFC heavyweight champion made his first foray into the boxing scene in October, when he\u00a0lost to Fury via split decision in a thrilling bout in Saudi Arabia.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/01\/10\/78461957-12813709-image-a-1_1701427255987.jpg\" height=\"357\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Zhilei Zhang has revealed that he was in talks to fight Francis Ngannou in December<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/01\/11\/78464175-12813709-However_the_heavyweight_insists_that_Ngannou_didn_t_want_to_go_a-a-31_1701429044556.jpg\" height=\"459\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>However, the heavyweight insists that Ngannou &#8216;didn&#8217;t want to&#8217; go ahead with the bout<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/01\/11\/78464165-12813709-Ngannou_s_only_foray_into_the_boxing_world_came_as_a_decision_de-a-32_1701429044558.jpg\" height=\"425\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Ngannou&#8217;s only foray into the boxing world came as a decision defeat to Tyson Fury (R)\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>While the Cameroonian has been tipped to return to the boxing ring, after recently getting a top ten ranking in the heavyweight division, he doesn&#8217;t have a future bout booked.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Now, Zhang has claimed that a clash between the two had been in the works before Ngannou&#8217;s team eventually pulled out of negotiations.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Speaking to Mail Sport, via FreeBets, Zhang said: &#8216;There were originally talks to have me fight Ngannou [on December 23] and I was like, &#8220;Okay, it&#8217;s a walk in the park for me, I&#8217;ll take it&#8221;.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;But Ngannou didn&#8217;t want to do it. And then it&#8217;s what you see. The big names started to come in like Joshua filling the card. And that&#8217;s what happened&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>Despite Zhang&#8217;s hopes of fighting on December 23rd, the event dubbed the &#8216;Day of Reckoning&#8217; will now feature the likes of Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder on it.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Joshua will face-off against Otto Wallin while Wilder will take on Joseph Parker in one the most highly-anticipated boxing cards of the year.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;I believe everyone is busy with their schedule but I&#8217;m someone that whoever you put in front of me, I&#8217;ll fight. It&#8217;s up to [my] team,&#8217; Zhang continued.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;I think it&#8217;s coming [big fight in China] in 2024, people will see something like that. People behind the scenes are working very hard, every day trying to push this and I believe in 2024 we will see a high level world title fight. Everyone is invited.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;I have a strong feeling that something big is coming and I want everyone to stay tuned. If you&#8217;re watching my fight I&#8217;m not going to let you down&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/01\/11\/78464147-12813709-Ngannou_stunned_the_world_when_he_knocked_Fury_to_the_canvas_bac-a-33_1701429044559.jpg\" height=\"425\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Ngannou stunned the world when he knocked Fury to the canvas back in October<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/01\/11\/77965655-12813709-Anthony_Joshua_will_face_off_against_Otto_Wallin_on_the_highly_a-a-34_1701429044559.jpg\" height=\"424\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Anthony Joshua will face off against Otto Wallin on the highly-anticipated December 23 card<\/p>\n<p>As previously mentioned, Ngannou&#8217;s only fight inside the boxing ring came against heavyweight champion Fury back in October.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Despite expectations that the Gypsy King would steamroll the novice boxer, instead, it was Fury who found himself on the canvas during the fight.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>And Zhang has suggested that the British star&#8217;s performance was an indication that his mind is &#8216;not in boxing&#8217; at the minute.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Zhang said: &#8216;With the performance Fury had against Ngannou, that says a lot about his mindset. I don&#8217;t think his mind is in boxing right now.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;He&#8217;s in marketing, he&#8217;s in PR. He&#8217;s in all this stuff, but he&#8217;s not in boxing. You can&#8217;t fool training. You have to do it daily.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;People call me a hypnotist &#8211; I can put people to sleep. I don&#8217;t mind giving him a good sleep. I think his father is correct, he is declining if his focus is outside of the ring. He could incline again &#8211; if he focuses on the ring and the gym&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/01\/11\/78464155-12813709-Zhang_says_Fury_s_performance_against_Ngannou_showed_his_mind_is-a-35_1701429044560.jpg\" height=\"425\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Zhang says Fury&#8217;s performance against Ngannou showed his mind is &#8216;not in boxing&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Elsewhere, Zhang also revealed to Mail Sport that\u00a0<span>he was in talks to fight <\/span>Anthony Joshua<span>\u00a0before negotiations eventually broke down.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Speaking to Mail Sport, via FreeBets,\u00a0Zhang said: &#8216;It was after his fight wi<span>th Usyk where I was the chief support fighting Hrgovic after that event.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&#8216;My team is talking to his team and my team even flew to London to meet his people.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;And I believe what I heard was Eddie [Hearn] liked the idea, but when it comes down to himself or the managers around him, I&#8217;m not sure. I really wanted it. That&#8217;s what I can tell you&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/i\/pix\/2023\/10\/25\/The%20Hook_Promo_Desktop.636.png\"><br \/>\nSource: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/boxing\/article-12813709\/Zhilei-Zhang-claims-negotiations-fight-Francis-Ngannou-December-23rd-card-insists-MMA-fighter-turned-boxer-didnt-want-it.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>EXCLUSIVE Zhilei Zhang claims he WAS in negotiations to fight Francis Ngannou on December 23rd card &#8211; but insists the <span class=\"more-text\">&hellip;<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":301065,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Zhilei Zhang claims he WAS in talks to fight Francis Ngannou - Sportstons<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/boxing\/zhilei-zhang-claims-he-was-in-talks-to-fight-francis-ngannou\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Zhilei Zhang claims he WAS in talks to fight Francis Ngannou - Sportstons\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"EXCLUSIVE Zhilei Zhang claims he WAS in negotiations to fight Francis Ngannou on December 23rd card &#8211; 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