Olympic foes at opposite ends of fistic fortune

Zhang Zhilei and Anthony Joshua have charted decidedly different routes on the road to ring glory.

London's iconic Wembley Stadium will be the center of the boxing universe on Saturday night when 85,000 fans join multiple millions on pay-per-view in watching Britain's unbeaten Joshua (18-0, 18 KOs) try to defend his IBF world heavyweight title against former undisputed champion Wladimir Klitschko of Ukraine (64-4, 53 KOs).

The 27-year-old Joshua is guaranteed $22 million, plus a cut of the PPV revenue.

Hours earlier, on the other side of the planet, Zhang, the Chinese southpaw that Joshua defeated in the quarterfinals at the 2012 London Olympics, will be out to maintain his own streak of professional perfection - and move a step closer to a world-title shot - when he takes on American veteran Mark Brown at a nondescript suburban venue in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Zhang will be lucky to pocket $10,000.

Joshua, 6-foot-5 and 240 pounds, excelled at soccer and sprinting as a teen, and broke England's Year Nine secondary school record for the 100 meters with a time of 11.6 seconds. He gravitated to boxing and had instant success.

Zhang took a different route.

The 6-foot-6, 250-pounder probably never would have donned the gloves had he been a less corpulent canoeist in middle school.

The 33-year-old from Zhoukou, Henan province, first entered the ring at 14 after gaining too much weight to fit into a racing canoe - his first athletic love.

"I knew nothing at all about boxing, but once I started going to the gym and training, I really liked it," Zhang said after signing a pro contract with Dino Duva's New Jersey-based Dynasty Promotions in 2014.

"I grew up watching videos of Muhammad Ali, Mike Tyson and the Klitschko brothers. I hope I can be like them and win a gold belt someday, too."

Duva got to know Zhang, who won silver in the super-heavyweight division at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, during a series of training camps the American helped organize for China's national team, starting in 2009.

He waited for Zhang to end his amateur career after the London Games and apply through government channels to turn pro.

Now 14-0 (10 KOs), Zhang captured the vacant WBO Oriental title in January by stopping Australia's Peter Graham (11-2) in one round and is now ranked No 15 in the world.

So far, Zhang's big punch has made it easy to maintain a busy schedule. He fought six times in 2016, and Saturday's bout against Brown (15-5, 7 KOs), will be his second this year.

Eight of Zhang's wins have come in three rounds or less.

"The big guys are different than boxers in lower weight classes," said Duva.

"They don't have to fight as often, but Zhang wants to keep busy. If he stays healthy and keeps winning, he'll soon position himself to make history as the first Chinese to fight for the world heavyweight championship."

In the co-main event at Charlotte, nine-time Chinese national amateur champ Meng Fanlong of Chifeng, Inner Mongolia autonomous region, will face US trialhorse Brad Austin in an eight-round light-heavyweight clash.

Meng, a 6-foot-2 southpaw, is 10-0 with 7 KOs. He won the WBO Oriental title with a sensational first-round stoppage of Russia's Gasan Gasanov (12-3) in January and, like Zhang, hopes to use the regional title as a springboard to greater glory.

"Professional American training is more vigorous than amateur training in China," said the 29-year-old, who lost in the quarterfinals at the London Olympics and turned pro in 2015.

"I decided to turn professional because I want to live up to my full potential and achieve my ultimate goal - to win a world championship."

Meng - nicknamed 'Cold Blood' - should make short work of Austin, who owns a record of 12-23. Nine of those wins have been via KO.

murraygreig@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 04/20/2017 page23)