By Scott Gilfoid: 2008 Olympic super heavyweight Silver medalist Zhang Zhilei is reportedly turning pro with Dynasty Boxing.
The 6’6”, 245 pound Zhilei looked highly talented when he competed in the London Olympics in losing to eventual Gold medalist Anthony Joshua by a narrow 15-11 score in one of the four controversial wins that Joshua picked up to eventually win the gold medal in front of his fans in London.
I had Zhilei beating Joshua by a 20-10 score due to the better scoring punches that he landed. The southpaw Zhilei looked highly talented, and it was assumed by some boxing fans that he would turn pro immediately after the Olympics. It’s too bad that he waited 2 years before finally making the move because he’s 31 now, and that’s a bit advanced for someone turning pro.
Unless Zhang takes his career into the express lane like 2-time Olympic gold medalist Vasyl Lomachenko, it’ll take Zhang too many years before he gets to where he needs to be. What you don’t want is to see Zhang at 36 before he takes his first meaningful fight after 5 years of lower level fights.
According to Dan Rafael of ESPN, Zhilei will be fighting on August 8th in Fallon, Nevada on ESPN2’s Friday Night Fights.
“Mark my words, once boxing fans get a chance to see him, he will be the talk of the heavyweight division and all of boxing,” said promoter Dino Duva to Dan Rafael at ESPN. “I believe he is going to be the most important heavyweight to come along since (brother Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko) turned pro in 1996.”
I agree that Zhilei will be a very, very good heavyweight. Duva just needs to make sure he speeds up his career, because he’s 31 and he’s already competed in two Olympics [2008 and 2012]. With the Olympic experience, Zhilei doesn’t need to be held back like other former amateur fighters when they turn pro.
It’s going to be interesting to see how Zhilei fights without the head gear on. In some of the fights I’ve seen of him, his head gear was frequently sliding down across his eyes to obscure his vision, and he was constantly adjusting it so that he could see. Without the head gear, Zhilei should be 100% better.
I rate Zhilei as a better heavyweight prospect than Anthony Joshua. He’s faster, more athletic with better power and a lot more limber than Joshua.
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