ZHANG WARNS JOYCE OF CHINESE POWER SURGE

ZHILEI ZHANG PROMISES that Joe Joyce will feel the Far East force when the pair collide at the Copper Box Arena on April 15, live on BT Sport.

Big Juggernaut and Big Bang will trade bombs with Joyce’s WBO Interim world heavyweight title at stake, with the pair fighting for the right to challenge for the full world championship, currently held by unified champion Oleksandr Usyk.

Joyce is renowned for walking through heavy fire without flinching, as evidenced throughout his career and last year in fights against Christian Hammer and Joseph Parker.

Zhang, who fought a final eliminator for the IBF belt against Filip Hrgovic last year and rocked the fancied Croatian, warns that being prepared to take punishment would be a risky strategy against himself.

“Joe Joyce has good punch resistance but he has never felt Chinese power,” is the chilling warning coming from the 39-year-old who hails from Zhoukou in China.

Promoted by Queensberry Promotions, Joyce-Zhang will be broadcast live in the U.K. on BT Sport and streamed live and exclusively in the U.S. on ESPN+.

Also featuring at the Copper Box will be the return of Denzel Bentley with a defence of his British middleweight title against Scottish challenger Kieran Smith. Peacock Gym puncher Bentley is back fighting in London after his unsuccessful WBO world title tilt against Janibek Alimkhanuly in November.

Former unified super-featherweight belt-holder Mikaela Mayer, fighting in the U.K. for the second time in a row, will make her lightweight debut against former two-time super-lightweight world champion Christina ‘Medusa’ Linardatou.

Commonwealth super bantamweight champion Dennis McCann will make a first defence of the title he won via defeating Joe Ham last time out, with his Queensberry iBox Gym teammate Sam Noakes defending his WBC International Silver and Commonwealth lightweight titles.

McCann made it a title treble at The O2 in November, with the 22-year-old Menace having won the WBC International Silver featherweight championship and the WBO Youth super bantamweight title in his previous two fights, beating James Beech Jr and Charles Tondo respectively.

Former amateur star Eithan James, winner of five national titles, is on the card in an eight round super lightweight contest. While another super lightweight Sonny Liston Ali will fight in a six-rounder with Dagenham super welterweight Joel Kodua fighting over four.

Tickets for the showdown between Joe Joyce and Zhilei Zhang on Saturday, 15 April at the Copper Box Arena, London are on sale now from: ticketmaster.co.uk