Zhilei Zhang has been waiting over three weeks for Derek Chisora to sign his part of the deal for a fight this December in Manchester, England.
The bill in Manchester is slated for December 13, with Chisora supporting a DAZN pay-per-view double-header alongside rising heavyweight star Moses Itauma. The bout would be Chisora’s 50th professional contest, and – if we are to take his word for it – his last. The Londoner’s last bout, which was misguidedly billed as his ‘Last Dance’ in the UK, also took place in Manchester, against Sweden’s Otto Wallin back in February. The Londoner picked up a unanimous decision victory to set up a meaningful encounter for his swansong.
Zhang’s advisor Terry Lane has revealed that they were contacted by Frank Warren’s Queensberry Promotions for Zhang, 27-3-1 (22 KOs), to be Chisora’s opponent in his final contest. Zhang, who has not fought since his defeat to Agit Kabayel in February, accepted the offer to face 41-year-old Chisora, 36-13 (23 KOs), on the proposed date of December 13 in Manchester, but is still waiting on the 41-year-old Chisora’s signature.
“We've been very quiet about it because our team and Zhang himself, we're just not ones to rush to social media,” Lane explained to BoxingScene, “but we were presented with the fight [over three weeks ago] and we accepted a couple of days. So it's been well over three weeks since the fight has been accepted on our end, in principle.”
Zhang, 42, took to social media yesterday (October 14) to entice his rival into putting pen to paper.
Zhilei Zhang calling out Derek Chisora 😂#boxing pic.twitter.com/rocSJqPCvA
— Boxing Exposure (@Boxing_Exposure) October 11, 2025
“Queensberry wants to make the fight. DAZN [the broadcaster] really like the fight,” said Lane. “It was a twin bill with Moses Itauma as kind of a co-main event situation on a pay-per-view. So we said yes, basically pretty quickly, and it just got to a point where we kind of felt like we needed to speak up in recent days. That's why you're kind of seeing this stuff come out now.”
Chisora took to social media earlier this week displaying three potential opponents and asking fans who he should face in his 50th and final contest. Zhang was not featured on the post, instead Deontay Wilder, Dillian Whyte, and Jarrell Miller were the three opponents teased by Chisora.
“I know that two of those opponents are not going to work out,” Lane said. “I mean, look, I've been wrong before, so I can't say anything in boxing. You can't say anything with any certainty, but I just don't think that two of those fights are in the running. One of them might be, but what I'm hearing on my end is that the fight that the powers that be want to make is Zhang versus Chisora. So it's kind of up to Chisora to say yes or no to it. But if he says no, I don't know what direction they would go in, but we would move on and probably focus back on [fighting in] China again [in January].”
Lane believes the only viable opponent out of the three listed by Chisora would be American Jarrell Miller, who was due to face Fabio Wardley on a Queensberry bill back in June only to pull out.
