Deontay Wilder KO’d in the 5th round by Zheilei Zhang

Former heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder's (43-4-1, 42 KOs) career is now on its last leg after losing his second straight fight this time in devastating fashion to China's Zheli Zhang, 41. Zhang connected with a perfectly timed counter right hook that spun Wilder in a daze. With Wilder defenseless, Zhang (27-2-1, 21 KOs) sprinted in and smashed him with another right hand that planted the American hard on the canvas.

Wilder has lost four of his past five fights, including a decision defeat to Joseph Parker in December along with a pair of losses to Tyson Fury in their heavyweight championship trilogy. Wilder said before the fight that if he lost, "this could be the final goodbye, the farewell of Deontay Wilder." If it is the last hoorah of Wilder he will go down as one of the greatest heavyweight knockout artists the sport has ever seen.

As for Zheng, he came into Saturday’s fight gigantic. Zhang outweighed Wilder by 68.2 pounds at 282.8 compared with Wilder's 214.6. There is no weight limit in boxing's heavyweight division. Zhang used that size advantage to bully Wilder and apply relentless pressure on the ropes. A southpaw, Zhang was able to connect with right hooks that scored time and again as Wilder wasn’t able to get any of his offense off. 

With the win Zheng now has options for a bigger fight. He said this fight was the road to him facing Usyk also a big fight with Anthony Joshua hangs in the balance. The victory made it a clean sweep for Frank Warren's Queensberry Promotions, which was squaring off with rival U.K. promoter Eddie Hearn's Matchroom Boxing in a unique 5 vs. 5 team concept created by Turki Alalshikh, the chairman of Saudi Arabia's General Entertainment Authority. Warren was granted a check for $3 million.