In her post-fight interview, the newly crowned champion spoke about her promise to become the first fighter from China to capture UFC gold and the pride she felt for having achieved her dream, and you could see the emotions wash over her before she offered one quick message in English:
Neither man landing the same big shots they were previously. Plenty of jabs both ways. Good right hand from Dubois lands over the rop. Hrgovic is cut but that was from a headbutt. And Hrgovic lands two good right hands. Dubois lands one of his own but Hrgovic lands another one. The jabs have dropped off as power punches are now the round.
A year later, Zhang faced Hrgović, an undefeated former Olympic bronze medalist from Croatia. Hrgović had never been past the eighth round. Zhang took him 12, dropping a razor-thin decision. “He won,” says George. “You’ll never convince me otherwise.” A few months later Zhang got the call for Joyce. Cutting left hands did the job in the first fight. One thudding right did it in the rematch.
Queensberry is headed by Frank Warren and promotes fighters such as Tyson Fury and Joseph Parker. Matchroom Boxing is led by Eddie Hearn and promotes fighters including Anthony Joshua, Katie Taylor and Edgar Berlanga.
Last year was disappointing enough for Bivol. After earning Fighter of the Year in 2022 with wins over Canelo Alvarez and Gilberto Ramirez, Bivol didn’t appear again until the final days of 2023. He remained undefeated after shutting out Lyndon Arthur. Bivol, a 33-year-old, is 22-0 (11 KOs).
Zhang was the first Chinese woman to be appointed as an Emporio Armani ambassador, which she served from 2009 to 2010. She also served as regional ambassadors for Mercedes-Benz, Garnier, Precious Platinum; and global ambassadors for Maybelline, Visa, TAG Heuer, Omega SA and Clé de Peau Beauté. Zhang was featured on the “BoF 500” list. Since 2019, she became the global ambassador for Chopard.
Spicer has reportedly maintained her innocence. According to the New York Post, she “found out a week before entering prison she was pregnant with Tyson’s child.” Her and Tyson’s daughter, Milan, was born after her release.
Zhang sued the magazine for defamation the next day and Vivi issued a statement supporting Zhang. In July, the owner of the magazine settled the case with Zhang and issued an apology. In August, the magazine was shut down.
But it’s hard to believe we’ll see the older Wilder after he looked wholly uninspired in the unanimous decision loss to Parker in December. It seems more likely that Zhang beats away at Wilder for 12 and “The Bronze Bomber” is unable to respond with a shot that backs him up.
TYSON: Yeah, this is true. But that quickly changed when my parents moved into this neighborhood called Brownsville, Brooklyn, which was just totally different than the neighborhood we lived in before. The people in Brownsville were very aggressive. It was like a dog-eat-dog world. So I had to get familiar with it.
He won the world lightweight title in 1917 and became the longest-reigning lightweight champion in history by recording 154 fights without defeat. He retired as a champion in 1925 before making a brief comeback between 1931 and site here 1932.
The short answer to what a heavyweight boxer eats is, well, everything. Steak, chicken, different kinds of fish. During a recent visit to Jiang Nan, a Chinese-fusion joint Zhang frequents in Montclair, N.J., a plate filled with flat, oval-shaped meat arrives at the table. George slides a piece between a pair of chopsticks and asks Zhang to identify it. He always asks. In China, George was often offered food he couldn’t identify. Horse. Bull penis. Snake blood. “Cow tongue,” says Zhang. The chopsticks drop. “Nope,” says George. “Not eating that.”
In 2020, while Zhang made a rare visit back home the day after Chinese New Year, his father died of a sudden cardiac arrest at home during COVID-19 lockdown in China. Zhang mistakenly believed his father to be choking and attempted the Heimlich maneuver to no avail.
In 2019, a year before the official closure of Roc Nation’s boxing division, the Lane brothers negotiated Zhang’s release with Matchroom Boxing USA, which Duva, again, had cut a deal with. In 2024, Zhang’s co-manager recalled his promoter tried to stop him leaving by intimidation, dragging him into legal battles and refusing to line him up in fights. Brothers Tommy and Terry Lane, sons of boxing referee Mills Lane, joined Zhang as advisers and helped guide him out of trouble. It was not clear whether this incident was referring to Zhang’s termination of contract in November 2014 or in 2019.
Zhang entered the 2022 Internazionali di Tennis Città di Trieste Challenger as a qualifier, defeating fifth-seeded Marco Cecchinato and eighth-seeded Alexandre Müller en route to the final, where he lost to Francesco Passaro despite clinching the first set. Zhang re-entered the top-200 for the first time since he injured himself at the 2021 Hamburg European Open. Zhang reached a second straight Challenger Tour final at the 2022 Internazionali di Tennis del Friuli Venezia Giulia in Cordenons, Italy upsetting fourth seed Pavel Kotov in the first round, and Alexandre Müller in the semifinals to reach the final. It was Zhang’s third Challenger final in one month, and the fifth of his career. He rallied after losing the first set against Andrea Vavassori, defeating the home-crowd favorite in three sets to lift the title – Zhang’s first Challenger title in nearly three years. Zhang rose to world No. 157 in the ATP rankings following Cordenons, his highest ranking in two and a half years.
