In the highlight match of the Queensberry vs. Matchroom 5v5 event that took place early yesterday morning, a surprise happened when Zhilei Zhang knocked out Deontay Wilder to the astonishment of the fans.
The Queensberry vs. Matchroom 5v5 boxing event is the most anticipated sporting event of 2024, marking the first time the two biggest boxing promotions in the world will face each other. The highlight of the event is the confrontation between two heavyweight monsters, “China Power” Zhilei Zhang and “The Bomber” Deontay Wilder. Despite being underestimated before the clash with the former WBC heavyweight champion, Zhilei Zhang proved to the world that he is the better fighter in this confrontation.
In the early rounds, there was not much action from either fighter. Both Deontay Wilder and Zhilei Zhang seemed afraid to throw punches. Zhilei Zhang had his chances, successfully backing Wilder into the corner and then unleashing a barrage of body blows. However, it was not enough to finish the former WBC champion, once known as the scariest man on the planet.
Zhilei Zhang completely outperformed Deontay Wilder. Photo: Bad Left Hook
Wilder took Zhang’s punches, but what was worrying was that he looked weak and scared as he didn’t throw any punches back at the Chinese fighter. This was definitely not the golden version of Wilder that he promised to bring before the fight, and this was not even the version that Tyson Fury defeated twice.
Fans were getting fed up and boos started to ring out after the fourth round. While Wilder continued to stand still and take the punches, Zhang was not doing much better as he was unable to land a single punch with any real impact on the former champion.
In the fifth round, Wilder suddenly came back with great force, throwing a few straight right punches that hit Zhang’s head, making the audience restless. However, “the happy days were short-lived”, when everything gradually got better for the champion, suddenly, a right hook from Zhang ended it all. Fast, neat and decisive, true to his nickname “Big Bang”, Zhang created an unimaginable explosion. Wilder became staggered and gradually lost consciousness, he turned his back to his opponent as if to run away. Realizing the golden opportunity, Zhang rushed in and added a straight right that completely knocked Wilder down. The referee was forced to intervene and immediately ended the match.
Deontay Wilder was knocked out in the 5th round. Photo: Independent
Since losing to Tyson Fury twice in a row, “The Bomber” has not been himself. Deontay Wilder has lost 4/5 of his recent matches and fans are starting to doubt his ability to compete.
