Zhilei Zhang swipes at Anthony Joshua and brutally threatens to put ‘unproven’ Oleksandr Usyk ‘to sleep’

ZHILEI ZHANG has taken a brutal swipe at heavyweight rivals Anthony Joshua and Oleksandr Usyk.

The Chinese fighter, ranked No1 in the WBO, has insisted he would put Usyk to sleep early if they were to fight.

Zhilei Zhang fired digs towards both Oleksandr Usyk and Anthony JoshuaRichard Pelham / The Sun

EPA

Zhang said Usyk was ‘unproven’ after fighting a ‘declining’ Joshua[/caption]

The Ukrainian is set to fight Tyson Fury sometime next year after the December 23rd date was scrapped following the Gypsy King’s bruising points win over Francis Ngannou.

However, Zhang believes Usyk is “unproven” in the ring, earning his belts only after fighting a “declining” Joshua, but did acknowledge that his path to earning his titles was far from easy.

Speaking to ProBoxTV, he said: “[Usyk is] unproven.

“When he fought [Anthony] Joshua, Joshua was on the decline, so I won’t think he is proven one way or another.

“He has three belts, and that’s not something easy to do.

“He is moving up from a cruiserweight, and right now he is still a cruiserweight.

“So if we share the ring he is going to sleep early.”

The 40-year-old is the mandatory challenger to Usyk’s WBO title and wants to fight him next.

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He added: “China needs this fight. It is beyond myself, the whole country needs a high-level sporting event, a professional boxing event like this.

“It [would] boost up the country’s pride, and China is going to love it [if he could fight in China].”

Zhang scored back-to-back wins over Joe Joyce in England in his most recent fights and recently called out AJ to a fight in China for a showdown in front of 100,000 people at the Bird’s Nest in Beijing.