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Looks like we’ll have to wait even longer to see Zhang Zhilei against a competent opponent. Sergey Kuzmin, who was set to challenge the former Olympic silver medalist on the November 30th Radzhab Butaev-Alexander Besputin DAZN card in Monaco, has broken his foot and withdrawn nine days before fight night.
Zhang (20-0, 16 KO) is 36 years old, over a decade removed from his Olympic achievement, and has done functionally nothing as a professional. Though he’s fought 20 times in five years, he’s yet to face an opponent more noteworthy than former kickboxing standout Peter Graham. Unranked by any of the major sanctioning bodies, he’ll have to put the pedal to the metal to achieve contender status while still in sufficient physical condition to do so.
Not to be presumptuous, but I don’t think Duva can find someone who fits that bill in less than two weeks.
The rest of the card remains intact. Besides the main event, the show features Cecelia Braekhus against Victoria Noelia Bustos and Hughie Fury against Pavel Sour.