Deontay Wilder conqueror welcomes fight with Moses Itauma

Itauma has been scrambling to find his next opponent ahead of his ring return in December

Zhilei Zhang claims he will happily enter the ring with 20-year-old phenom Moses Itauma as he urged the Brit's team to send through a contract offer.

The Chinese heavyweight contender said he had seen Itauma’s most recent performances and was impressed, but is not afraid to test himself against the rising star.

“Moses Itauma is a great fighter,” Zhang told BoxNation. “I watched a couple of his fights, and he knocked out Dillian Whyte in one round. Fantastic. But for the time being, right now, we haven’t received anything from Itauma in terms of fighting him.

“Anyone who wants to fight me, I want to see that contract. I will sign it.”

Itauma has been having very public struggles with finding himself another opponent for his return to the ring on December 13 after his first-round destruction of Dillian Whyte in August, which took him to 13-0 (11).

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His promoter, Frank Warren, has claimed that everyone he approached simply rejected the fight or asked for exorbitant sums of money to step into the ring with Itauma.

Michael Hunter and David Adeleye emerged as frontrunners last week, but there has been no further update. Perhaps Itauma has found the one man who is keen to fight him in Zhang.

Zhilei Zhang drops Agit Kabayel in round five (Getty Images)

Warren promised a top-ten heavyweight for Itauma next, and Zhang sits only two places above the Slovakian-born Brit in The Ring’s heavyweight rankings at number seven.

Zhang has won three of his last five fights. He produced two sensational knockouts against Joe Joyce in 2023 before a points loss to Joseph Parker.

He then bounced back with a career-best win - knocking out former heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder, but fell to a knockout himself against Agit Kabayel in pursuit of the WBC interim title in February.

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Zhang has not fought since his third loss and is clearly keen to get his career moving again.

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