By Zhenyu Li

(Beijing, China) - At the prime of the Noble Art, the peak of its popularity, the pinnacle of the sweet science, there lies a division, a division rich in history that defines the combat sport, a division luxury in talent that produced the most ring legends, that is, the flagship division of boxing - the heavyweight.

China's Zhilei Zhang is an emersion from this division.

The 2.01-metre/125kg Chinese giant concluded his journey at the World Boxing Championships in Milan, Italy over the weekend, adding a second Worlds' bronze to his accolade.

Although the 2007 World Championships bronze medalist performed under the mark in his semifinal clash, he had a decent run overall at the tournament, sweeping up his first three rounds' opponents with decisive wins.

An excellent puncher with a heavy left hand, the southpaw Zhang could also box seemingly like a light heavyweight. He is swift and nimble for a super heavyweight of his size, and as most Chinese boxers, posses a nifty footwork.

With his unique imposing presence in the ring, he even could not locate a fair sparing partner in a nation with 1.3 billion people, not to mention a rivalry. He is not only a rarity in the square circle of China, but all over Asia.

"It's almost impossible to find a boxer in our country who could spar with Zhang," Ermin Tang, a coach of the Chinese national boxing team told me. "Leaving such a talent in an embarrassing situation like this would be a huge waste for our country."

As early as Zhang claimed the bronze medal at the 2007 World Boxing Championships in Chicago, USA, the Chinese super heavyweight had caught a number of American promoters' attentions.

Famed American boxing promoters such as Don King and Dino Duva, together with the four-time heavyweight world champion Evander Holyfield separately took a special trip to Beijing during the Olympic Games for the purpose of scouting Chinese boxing talent.

Holyfield who paid a visit to the Shaolin Monastery known as its association with Chinese martial arts, told me during the Olympic Games in his hotel room in Beijing that he had his own promotional company and was exploring Chinese young talent. He had noticed Zhang and the renowned light flyweight Shiming Zou at that time.

This past August, right before the 2009 Worlds, Zhang was invited by the American promoter Dino Duva to carry out an intensive 21-day training program in Pennsylvania, United States with his farther, Hall of Fame trainer Lou Duva who has handled some of the world's most successful pugilists including 19 world champions.

The 26-year-old Zhang became apparently more confident when I saw him at the very night as he came back from the training camp in Pennsylvania.

"The intense training in the U.S. did exert some effects on Zhilei," Jinhua Gu, Zhang's long-time handler confided to me. "But it's not evident, 'cause the training period was too short. It needs to take at least three months or half a year for Zhilei to make a shift."

After pausing for a moment, he continued: "It's fair to say that Zhilei has improved a little compared to his former selves during the Olympics a year ago. He is getting more matured, more potent and more technically sound, day by day."

The Championships might be the best touchstone of Zhang's intensive training results.

The Olympic silver medalist Zhang made a strong first showing by dumping his Uzbek opponent with an 11-5 victory on the opening day of the tournament, and then struck the second stunning blow in the pre-quarterfinal when facing the tough opposition from boxing powerhouse Germany, winning the fight 12-8.

Rolling into the last 8, Zhang measured up his sturdy adversary Primislav Dimovski who hammered his way to the quarter finals, smashing his antagonists by 21-3 and 21-0, respectively, in the opening round. The bout ended with a draw of 1-1.

Leveraging his favored experience, the leader of the Chinese national boxing team adapted to Dimovski's style quickly, outboxing the eastern European 3-0 in the second stanza.

Trailing behind by 4 points, Dimovski started off strong going into the third, but the Chinese was no pushover as he sustained his foe's onslaughts and remained in full control throughout the last round, winning it 2-1.

Zhang waltzed through with a dominant win of 6-2.

"Zhilei suppressed his opponent by implementing our pre-arranged tactics well," Gu told me following the fight. "We've done a lot of homework on this eastern European boxer beforehand."

"Our next opponent is the one that knocked off a Cuban fighter. We won't take him lightly."

Although two years older than Zhang, his Ukrainian foe Roman Kapitonenko whose only bright spot on his lackluster resume was a bronze at the 2008 European Championships was no match for the Chinese Olympic silver medalist in terms of experience and pedigree.

Almost all of the insiders in the Chinese boxing community predicted, as in one, that Zhang would have much of a chance to prevail.

Right after Zhang breezed through the quarterfinals, both Chinese domestic and international media outlets had almost looked past the Ukrainian and set their eyes on the second seeded Zhang's showdown with the reigning champion Italian Roberto Cammarelle, a megafight billed as a classic shoot-out between two of the world's best amateurs in the flagship division of the sweet science.

Before facing Zhang's semifinal opponent, Gu had mentioned me about Zhang's likely confrontation with his old foe Roberto Cammarelle.

"The Italian who beat Zhilei at the Beijing Olympics poses a big hurdle on his way to the gold," Gu observed before the semi finals. "Combined with the Italian's home court advantage, chances for us to snatch the gold medal are slim."

Cammarelle once gave Zhang a nightmare at last year's Olympic boxing final on his home turf before crowning under the brightest spotlight in the biggest sporting pageant.

The silver medalist Zhang banged the ring post heavily after the fight was stopped before the final bell. His eyes welled up with tears that seemingly contained both regret and revenge, as he was being interviewed by the Chinese media.

This is the ideal kind of fight journalists would love to watch. It would have all the makings of an epic battle that was easy to create storylines.

However, it didn't pan out as most insiders thought it would.

Zhang performed under the mark and was unexpectedly outboxed by the Ukrainian underdog in a semifinal upset.

The No.2 ranked Chinese seemed sluggish in the first two rounds, losing by a large margin of 0-4. In spite of his final outburst in the last stanza, in which he inflicted a marked damage on his rivalry, he had no time to pull out of the fire.

His conquest at the Worlds was halted one punch away from the final.

"Objectively speaking, Zhilei could be better," Gu remarked after the Semi Final. "He failed to get a running start. Virtually put, they're fifty-fifty."

After winning two Worlds' golds and an Olympic gold medal, the 29-year-old Grand Slam champion Roberto Cammarelle suggested that he would move into the professional ranks after the newly-concluded Championships in his home town Milan.

With the Italian menacing force absent from the 2012 Olympics, China's Zhilei Zhang will have a serious crack at the Olympic crown that weighs the most in the square ring three years from now. 

Zhenyu Li is a bilingual sports and culture columnist for People's Daily. His agent can be reached at sunboxing@gmail.com.