Former heavyweight champ Deontay Wilder returns to the ring in opposition to Zhilei Zhang in the primary occasion of the Queensberry and Matchroom 5 vs. 5 pay-per-view card Saturday in Saudi Arabia.

DEONTAY WILDER (43-3-1, 42 KOs)
VS. ZHILEI ZHANG (26-2-1, 21 KOs)

  • Date: Saturday, June 1
  • Time: 2 p.m. ET / 11 a.m. PT (major occasion later in present)
  • The place: Kingdom Area, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
  • TV/Stream: DAZN Pay-Per-View
  • Division: Heavyweight (no restrict)
  • At stake: No main titles
  • Boxing Junkie Pound-for-pound: None
  • Odds: Zhang 1½-1 favourite (common of a number of shops)
  • Significance (as much as 5 stars): *****
  • Additionally on the cardboard: Filip Hrgovic vs. Daniel Dubois, heavyweights; Dmitry Bivol vs. Malik Zinad, mild heavyweights (for Bivol’s WBA title); Raymond Ford vs. Nick Ball, featherweights (for Ford’s WBA title); Austin Williams vs. Hamzah Sheeraz, middleweights; Craig Richards vs. Willy Hutchinson, mild heavyweights
  • Background: Dmitry Bivol was scheduled to battle fellow 175-pound titleholder Artur Beterbiev in the primary occasion of the Queensberry and Matchroom 5 vs. 5 card however the matchup was postponed after Beterbiev was injured in coaching. The present goes on, with Deontay Wilder going through Zhilei Zhang in the primary occasion and Bivol defending his belt in opposition to Malik Zinad in a stay-busy battle. Wilder is at a crossroads. The hard-punching former heavyweight titleholder is 1-3 in his final 4 fights, with knockout losses in opposition to Tyson Fury in 2020 and 2021 and a one-sided determination setback in opposition to Joseph Parker on the Anthony Joshua-Otto Wallin card in December. The 38-year-old Alabamian’s solely victory within the final four-plus years was a first-round stoppage of Robert Helenius in October 2022. A victory over Zhang might result in yet another title shot. One other loss might finish his profession as an elite fighter, notably if he’s not aggressive. Zhang, a 41-year-old from China, had constructed appreciable momentum with back-to-back knockouts of Joe Joyce final yr. Nonetheless, he took a step backward with a majority determination loss to Parker despite the fact that he put the winner down twice in March. A victory would hold Zhang within the hunt for a title battle. Bivol (22-0, 11 KOs), ranked No. 4 pound-for-pound, shouldn’t have an excessive amount of bother with Zinad (22-0, 16 KOs). The Malta-based Libyan has an ideal document however is taking an unlimited step up in opposition. He’s ranked No. 2 by the IBF. Additionally on the cardboard, Filip Hrgovic (17-0, 14 KOs) and Daniel Dubois (20-2, 19 KOs) might be preventing to take care of their positions as prime contenders. Hrgovic, a 2016 Olympic bronze medalist, is coming off a first-round KO of Mark De Mori on the Joshua-Wallin card. Dubois bounced again from his knockout loss to Oleksandr Usyk by stopping Jarrell Miller within the tenth and closing spherical, additionally on the Joshua-Wallin present. And 126-pound titleholder Raymond Ford (15-0-1, 8 KOs) will defend his belt in opposition to Nick Ball (19-0-1, 8 KOs). Ford, a 25-year-old from New Jersey, is coming off a sensational stoppage of Otabek Kholmatov with solely seven seconds remaining in a battle he was shedding on the playing cards to win the vacant WBA title. Ball (19-0-1, 11 KOs) is coming off a powerful efficiency, a break up draw in opposition to WBC beltholder Rey Vargas in March. The 27-year-old from the U.Ok. outpointed Isaac Dogboe earlier than that.