Ex-WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder 43-4-1 (42) looked like a shadow of his former self as he got knocked out in five rounds by Zhilei Zhang 27-2-1 (22) at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Saturday night.
Chinese southpaw Zhang, 41, was able to hit Wilder almost at will. The 38-year-old American’s corner were worried about their boxer as early as the second round.
In the fifth round a right hook from Zhang spun Wilder around. A follow-up right hook sent him down heavily, his head hitting the canvas as he sunk to the mat. Wilder was back on his feet at eight but his legs were unsteady, forcing referee Kieran McCann to halt the contest at the 1:51 mark.
Wilder has now lost four of his past five bouts, including three by knockout, dating back to 2020. He has been knocked down six times during that period.
Wilder has long been linked to a fight against former two-time unified heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua 28-3 (25), but that bout now looks extremely unlikely.
“The thing that I think of is that Wilder-Joshua goes to the dustbin of #boxing history,” boxing journalist Dan Rafael wrote on X.
“Will never happen but should have when they were undefeated and in their prime and would have been for undisputed.”
In another post wrote: “Terrible fight, violent ending. Wilder sad to say is done. Nothing left.”
Michael Benson of talkSPORT posted: “Surely the end for Wilder.”
Joshua, who was ringside to watch the Wilder-Zhang fight, would not be drawn when asked if the loser should hang up the gloves.
“It’s completely up to him, I can’t say,” Joshua said on the DAZN broadcast.
“I just look at and say, ‘if you want to do it, do it’, it’s not a big deal boxing. If you want to fight, fight on, and if you don’t want to do it, don’t do it any more. It’s just where your heart’s at.
“He went in there against a good fighter in Zhilei. He’s an Olympian, Zhilei, people forget that, he’s come through, he’s got a great style, I fought him before in the Olympics and he’s still doing what he does now, so many years on. He was in with a real good, seasoned professional with a great pedigree.
“It doesn’t matter, come again if you want and if you don’t, you’ve got your family there, there’s another life outside of boxing for him.”
Wilder’s legs looked shot against Zhang and he didn’t seem to be able to pull the trigger on his heavy shots when he needed to.
Joshua added: “It’s a blessing, it ain’t going to last forever, so that’s what I always say with Wilder, enjoy these moments, unfortunately it don’t last forever so if he wants to do it again, give it a another crack because sooner or later father time catches up with you.”
Wilder ruled as WBC heavyweight for five years from 2015 to 2020. He made 10 successful title defences during his reign with only two of those bouts going the distance before losing his belt to Tyson Fury 34-1-1 (24) in their rematch four years ago.
