ZHILEI ZHANG will hold a staggering 68.2-pound weight advantage over Matchroom captain Deontay Wilder when they collide in Riyadh on Saturday night.
The two fierce rivals will meet in the fifth and final clash of the unprecedented Matchroom v Queensberry event at the Kingdom Arena.
Both men were coming off unanimous decision defeats to Joseph Parker and Wilder described the fight as a retirement party for whoever lost this time.
And the Bronze Bomber weighed almost five stone less than Zhang as he tipped the scales at 214 1/2 lbs while Zhang stood at 282 3/4 lbs. The Chinese southpaw is 8 3/4 lbs lighter than when he lost to Parker.
But things got a lot closer as two of the show’s other heavyweights faced off ahead of a clash for the interim IBF title. Unbeaten Filip Hrgovic, representing Team Matchroom, weighed in at 247 1/2 lbs while Daniel Dubois was a little over 2 pounds lighter at his career heaviest at 245 3/4 lbs.
There’s no problem for WBA featherweight champion Ray Ford making weight, although he insists he’s ready to move up to 130lbs already. Instead, he made the featherweights again, weighing in at 125 1/2 lbs in defense against Queensberry’s Nick Ball, who weighed in at 125 3/4 lbs.
At middleweight, the undefeated pairing of Hamzah Sheeraz and Austin ‘Ammo’ Williams both weighed in at 159 1/2 lbs, well above what many predicted was the potential fight of the night. Sheeraz is Queensberry’s 160-pound hopeful and has been named captain of Team Queensberry, but Williams, who donned a headgear for the event, knows a win will put him on course for the world title .
At light-heavyweight, longtime Matchroom man Craig Richards weighs in at 174 1/4 lbs while 17-1 Willy Hutchinson is also comfortably within the limit at 174 lbs.
It wasn’t all comfortable for WBA light-heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol, who put his title on the line against Malik Zinad in the only fight that wasn’t a fight between Frank Warren and Eddie Hearn.
Bivol was supposed to fight Arthur Beterbiev here but Zinad, who weighs 174 1/4 lbs, was brought in when the Russian withdrew due to injury. But Bivol, 33, is well over the 175-pound limit and knows a win here would set up his long-awaited unification clash with Beterbiev next.
