Tyson Fury is on the lookout for a rival for this summer and has ruled out fighting Andy Ruiz Jr. Instead, the reigning WBC heavyweight champion of the world wants to face Zhilei Zhang.
The input was given by Bob Arum, the Top Rank chief who explained that Ruiz was ruled out as an option for Fury’s next outing, to give priority to Zhang.
‼️ Tyson Fury vs Zhilei Zhang is now the frontrunner for Fury's next fight, Bob Arum has revealed. He said they are trying to finalise the deal this weekend for the WBC heavyweight world title fight in July. [@Ringside73] pic.twitter.com/iJNxbiZFWu
— Michael Benson (@MichaelBensonn) May 6, 2023
“No, we’re not really interested in Andy Ruiz, we’re focusing on the Chinese man who defeated Joe Joyce. Zhang is the favorite for that fight,” said Arum.
Zhang defeated Joy Joyce in April this year and became the interim World Boxing Organization (WBO) Heavyweight Champion. This victory gave the Chinese boxer the push he needed to become a good challenger in the Heavyweight division and has now garnered the attention of “The Gypsy King” and his team.
“I like to challenge the strongest, as I said before the fight, only by defeating the strongest one can become stronger,” Zhang had stated after his win over Joyce last month.
According to the Top Rank boss, this fight would be confirmed in the next few days and if everything goes as planned it will take place in July of this year.
“It is likely that the fight will be in July, we are trying to close it during this weekend,” Bob Arum added.
