Comments Thread For: Anthony Joshua-Zhang Zhilei Eyed For The Future in China?

[BIGPOPPAPUMP]

Anthony Joshua could defend his IBF world heavyweight title in the Bird's Nest Stadium in Beijing under ambitious plans being made by promoter Barry Hearn.
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[mlac]

They dont want none of the 'dragon king' http://boxrec.com/boxer/634096

[PittyPat]

Muh, I'd rather see him fight 'The Big Ding Dong', Taishan Dong.

[OctoberRed]

I agree. I want to see Zhang vs. Dong box-off, winner gets Joshua

[Scipio2009]

Say what you want, but Eddie Hearn is a promoter's promoter; he's guiding out the career of Britain's arguably next superstar with as much well-schooled guile of a promoter that's been doing things for decades, without any of the begative heat.

Zhang Zhilei is currently 33 years old, a heavyweight, and is still barely fighting guys at even prospect level (missed him at the Ward-Barrera fight card, but the fact that he was fighting before the third fight of the night tells you where he's along the line). Joshua wrecks him, but he'd have an opponent that could be sold to the audience.

The path is being layed out, rather quietly; Wilder-Povetkin winner will end up fighting the Fury-Klitschko winner (on PPV to close out the year, imo), with Joshua fighting Breazeale this summer, likely taking one more voluntary defense to close out the year, before fighting his mandatory challenger to open up the year.

After the mandatory defense, you likely line up a spring/summer blockbuster against the Haye-Briggs winner (Hearn is hoping to the Big Guy that Haye wins that fight).

In the other end, imo the Wilder-Fury winner, after closing out the year with their PPV fight, settles the WBA mandatory defense, before likely having a summer rematch between the two.

From their parallel summer fights on, you then line things up for, imo, the Wilder-Joshua super fight; both guys take one interim fight before facing off.

Joshua's hypothetical schedule:
vs. Breazeale [Sky Box Office/Showtime]
vs. Jennings/Molina [Sky Box Office/Showtime]
vs. Parker/Takam winner (IBF mandatory) [Sky Box Office/Showtime]
vs. Haye [Sky Box Office/Showtime]

vs. (TBA)-US debut [SHOPPV/Sky Box Office]
vs. Wilder/Fury/Klitschko/Povetkin winner [SHOPPV/Sky Box Office]

[jbpanama]

Haven't seen much of the Josh Cat's action....,

But I like a Heavy Weights that throws 6 inch KO punches!

[j0zef]

Those boxrec **** are n-s-f-w.

[LetOutTheCage]

Hearn is going to turn Joshua into another Brook.

[Geon]

Say what you want, but Eddie Hearn is a promoter's promoter; he's guiding out the career of Britain's arguably next superstar with as much well-schooled guile of a promoter that's been doing things for decades, without any of the begative heat.

Zhang Zhilei is currently 33 years old, a heavyweight, and is still barely fighting guys at even prospect level (missed him at the Ward-Barrera fight card, but the fact that he was fighting before the third fight of the night tells you where he's along the line). Joshua wrecks him, but he'd have an opponent that could be sold to the audience.

The path is being layed out, rather quietly; Wilder-Povetkin winner will end up fighting the Fury-Klitschko winner (on PPV to close out the year, imo), with Joshua fighting Breazeale this summer, likely taking one more voluntary defense to close out the year, before fighting his mandatory challenger to open up the year.

After the mandatory defense, you likely line up a spring/summer blockbuster against the Haye-Briggs winner (Hearn is hoping to the Big Guy that Haye wins that fight).

In the other end, imo the Wilder-Fury winner, after closing out the year with their PPV fight, settles the WBA mandatory defense, before likely having a summer rematch between the two.

From their parallel summer fights on, you then line things up for, imo, the Wilder-Joshua super fight; both guys take one interim fight before facing off.

Joshua's hypothetical schedule:
vs. Breazeale [Sky Box Office/Showtime]
vs. Jennings/Molina [Sky Box Office/Showtime]
vs. Parker/Takam winner (IBF mandatory) [Sky Box Office/Showtime]
vs. Haye [Sky Box Office/Showtime]

vs. (TBA)-US debut [SHOPPV/Sky Box Office]
vs. Wilder/Fury/Klitschko/Povetkin winner [SHOPPV/Sky Box Office]

Why do you think AJ will fight Wilder in the US? As it is now bar povetkin AJ makes more money per fight then Wilder he won't need to travel

[Scipio2009]

Why do you think AJ will fight Wilder in the US? As it is now bar povetkin AJ makes more money per fight then Wilder he won't need to travel

If the plan is to put Joshua on PPV in the US, he's going to have to fight someone here.

He's making great money in the UK, but the top-end potential in the US dwarfs that money (the UK PPV basically translates to about a $35 as the cost; Canelo-Khan, if it does 750k PPV buys at $60 a pop, endsup with the fight camps splitting $22m-$23m).

Wilder-Joshua (with both guys having the stated paths layed out and winning), with the press tour, both of them being handsome big-punching heavyweights that could capture the attention of the casual sports fan (and even the non-sports fan), is a fight that I could fathom seeing do 1.5m PPV buys with the proper build-up, in addition to the likely 1m PPV buys on Box Office in the UK.

You could have the two fighters splitting upwards of $50m between them.