ZHILEI ZHANG will hold a staggering 68.2lb weight advantage over Matchroom captain Deontay Wilder when they collide in Riyadh on Saturday night.
The two heavyweights will meet in the fifth and final clash of the unprecedented Matchroom v Queensberry event which takes place at the Kingdom Arena.
Both men are coming off decision defeats to Joseph Parker and Wilder has described the fight as a retirement party for whoever loses this time around.
And the Bronze Bomber weighed in nearly five stone lighter than Zhang as he tipped the scales at 214 1/2lbs while Zhang came in at 282 3/4lbs. The Chinese southpaw was 8 3/4lbs lighter than he was when he lost to Parker.
But it was much closer when the show’s two other heavyweights weighed in ahead of their clash for the interim IBF title. Undefeated Filip Hrgovic, representing Team Matchroom, weighed in at 247 1/2lbs while Daniel Dubois was a little over two pounds lighter at his career heaviest of 245 3/4lbs.
There was no problem for WBA featherweight champion Ray Ford making weight, despite his insistence that he is ready to move up to 130lbs already. Instead, he successfully made feather once again, coming in 125 1/2lbs for his defence against Queensberry’s Nick Ball, who was 125 3/4lbs.
At middleweight,the undefeated pair of Hamzah Sheeraz and Austin ‘Ammo’ Williams both weighed in at 159 1/2lbs ahead of what many have tipped as the potential fight of the night. Sheeraz is Queensberry’s 160lb hope and has been named Team Queensberry captain, but Williams, who wore a headdress for the event, knows a victory will propel him towards a world title shot.
At light-heavyweight, long-time Matchroom man Craig Richards was 174 1/4lbs while 17-1 Willy Hutchinson was also comfortably inside the limit at 174lbs.
It was not quite so comfortable for the WBA light-heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol, who puts his title on the line against Malik Zinad in the only fight on the card that is not a battle between Frank Warren and Eddie Hearn.
Bivol had been supposed to fight Arthur Beterbiev here but Zinad, who weighed 174 1/4lbs, was drafted in when the Russian withdrew through injury. But Bivol, 33, was bang on the 175lbs limit and knows a victory here should set up the long-awaited unification clash with Beterbiev next.
