MMA Fighting has Deontay Wilder vs. Zhilei Zhang live round-by-round updates for Saturday’s boxing 5v5 showdown at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The main event is expected to begin around 6 p.m. ET on DAZN pay-per-view. Check out our Wilder vs. Zhang results page to find out what happened on the undercard.
Wilder (43-3-1) is one of the most feared power-punchers of his era. A former WBC heavyweight champion, “The Bronze Bomber” finished a staggering 42 of his 43 professional wins via knockout, but has fallen on hard times as of late. Wilder has lost three of his past four contests dating back to 2020, sandwiching a knockout of Robert Helenius between two losses to Tyson Fury and one to Joseph Parker. Another setback on Saturday and the 38-year-old Alabama native may finally call it a career for good.
Zhang (26-2-1) is the heavyweight division’s ageless wonder. An Olympic silver medalist, the 41-year-old Chinese fighter captured the WBO interim heavyweight title with a pair of wins over Joe Joyce in 2023, but ultimately dropped it in a majority decision loss to Parker this past March. Zhang’s only other blemish of his professional career came in a 2022 decision loss to Filip Hrgovic. He will carry a whopping 68.2 pound advantage over Wilder into the fight.
Check out the highlights here.
Get the Wilder vs. Zhang round-by-round live blog below:
Prefight: Well, Matchroom Boxing has been stuffed in a locker tonight. 4-0 for Queensberry, 8-0 in the points system.
Zhang is out to “Eye of the Tiger”, in gold trunks with black trim. His gloves are also gold, and he at least appears to be in good shape and motivated.
Wilder is out in black and gold, Roman style trunks and a dazzling black and gold face mask. Man looks like Scorpion out there. Go time.
Round 1: Zhang in southpaw, Wilder in orthodox. How long will it go? Zhang takes the center first and moves Wilder back to the corner. Both men handing fighting early, coiled to strike.
Wilder shoots a right hand. Zhang a left to the body. Zhang using that size early to push Wilder around. Both men taking their time. This is all about one, single shot from either side. Zhang shoots a left to the body as Wilder retreats out. Wilder fires a right that misses.
So much pawing from both men. Zhang swings a left up top but Wilder ducks under and clinches. Fast right hand from Wilder just misses. Another miss from Zhang and Wilder grabs. Statistically these men are No. 1 and No. 3 for least punches thrown in boxing and it’s showing early.
MMA Fighting scores the round 10-10.
Round 2: Wilder trying to hold the center a little more to start this round instead of retreating to the corner easily. Wilder tries a right hand as Zhang lands a left to the body. Neither man is jabbing. Zhang gets Wilder to the corner and tags him! Uppercut lands and Wilder covering up here.
Wilder fires back and Zhang staying in the pocket. Rough-housing inside and Wilder is playing a dangerous game. He finally pivots out. But Zhang puts him into the corner again and rips to the body. Wilder cannot get backed up like this. Zhang’s size is too big a weapon in there.
Zhang moves him to another corner. Wilder is gunshy. He’s not throwing. Now he sends one and it makes Zhang cover up. But too few. Great lead right hook from Zhang as Wilder stepped out. He keeps getting moved to the corner though and he’s not throwing enough. When Zhang is out-working you, that’s a problem.
MMA Fighting scores the round 10-9 Zhang, 20-19 Zhang overall.
Round 3: Zhang moves him around with easy. Wilder’s corner implored him to do something, saying they don’t want him to be a punching bag. For the first minute of this round he is. He’s just not punching. Zhang moves him to the corner, hits, Wilder moves away, and it happens again.
Wilder finally throws a right but Zhang lands a right of his own that has Wilder moving. He cannot stay off the ropes and he refuses to get respect with his hands. There is only one possible outcome if this continues. Uppercut from Zhang in the corner just misses.
I can’t wait to see the compubox numbers. Wilder might have thrown 20 all night long. He is getting dominated in activity by freaking Zhang. He’s going through the motions in what seems very likely to be the final fight of his career.
MMA Fighting scores the round 10-9 Zhang, 30-28 Zhang overall.
Round 4: Wilder keeps just pawing his left out there, waiting for a miracle of perfection to show the way for his right. Wilder has landed 9 punches through three rounds. Yeesh. Zhang not lighting the world on fire with 27, but still.
Wilder is settling in this round a little better. He’s staying in the middle more and has thrown a few right hands. Still mostly lead hand shoving, but this is better. UGLY jab from Wilder and Zhang lands a left to the body. Wilder ducks a left from Zhang. Credit where due, his defense has been pretty good. But it’s all he’s showing.
Zhang’s offense has slowed to a crawl as well. He’s getting Wilder backed up but now he’s throwing one left hand that Wilder ducks. This is devolving into sparring. Bad sparring. Wilder lands a right, Zhang a left.
If this is the last time we see Wilder, he’s going out with a whimper.
MMA Fighting scores the round 10-9 Zhang, 40-37 Zhang overall.
Round 5: If this fight goes to the card, that’s not fun. Both men need to just start swinging.
OH! Wilder does! He comes to life and starts throwing and Zhang is not prepared! He reacts poorly and covers up until a clinch. Not much landed, but the sheer effort surprised Zhang. Zhang gets back into it though and lands a left hook. And Wilder starts to retreat again.
Well, that was fun for a moment. But we’re back to this. Wilder in a corner, waiting to slip the punches.
OHHHH! Wilder gets caught!! Not even sure what got him but Wilder is now stumbling with his back turned! Zhang jumps on him and levels Wilder with a right hook!! Wilder is trying to beat the count. He looks in bad shape though. Wilder gets up at 8 but the ref has seen enough! Clean sweep for Queensberry!!!
Post Fight: On replay, a lead right hook is what hurt Wilder. He stepped in and just a little inside hook dazed Wilder. Then the running right hook when Wilder was stunned was vicious. A free punch and landed perfectly. Well done.
Official Decision Zhilei Zhang def. Deontay Wilder via KO — Round 5, 1:51
Interview: Zhang thanks all the fans. Then talks about losing to Parker, saying he learned from the loss. Says he knew he just needed to take Wilder’s right hand away, which he did. He gives Wilder credit and then calls for a fight that will get him back to a title fight.
