It was a slow start to the bout, with both men feeling each other out early doors, until Zhang dropped Parker with a straight left in the third round. The former WBO heavyweight champion showed some adversity in the fourth, attacking the body of Zhang and enjoying success with the right hand.
MITCHELL: There’s a point in Tyson when you talk about your frame of mind before a fight. When you were in the dressing room getting ready to go out, you’d be afraid. But the closer you got to the ring, the more confident you got.
Round 10: Wildheart is going to hear the final bell and she deserves to. She gamely tries a few body shots after Mayer snaps her head back with a right. Wildheart is badly bloodied, her nose is a mess, but she’s put in a superb showing on 24 hours notice.
Round 4: Has Zhang missed with a straight left yet? I mean, he must have done but this is a slog for Joyce right now. Perhaps his much-vaunted engine comes into play later but Zhang is dictating the pace so isn’t liable to tire any time soon. Any Joyce success is being responded to with interest. A chopping Joyce right clocks Zhang on the temple. He needs more of that. Left, right from Zhang and Joyce wobbles before the bell.
“Somehow, she was playing on this treadmill, and there’s a cord that hangs under the console; it’s kind of a loop,” said police Sgt. Andy Hill. “Either she slipped or put her head in the loop, but it acted like a noose, and she was obviously unable to get herself off of it.”
Matters came to a head when Tyson and Givens gave a joint interview with Barbara Walters on the ABC TV newsmagazine show 20/20 in September 1988, in which Givens described life with Tyson as “torture, pure hell, worse than anything I could possibly imagine.” Givens also described Tyson as “manic depressive” – which was later confirmed by doctors – on national television while Tyson looked on with an intent and calm expression. A month later, Givens announced that she was seeking a divorce from the allegedly abusive Tyson, with the two officially separating on February 14, box 1989.
TYSON: And tough as shit, too! You ain’t gonna beat him on no decision. You got to kill this man to beat this man! Now, look at how people handle their fear differently: Going into a fight, most people would be thinking about how they’re going to strategically do this or do that. But Hearns says, “Fuck it. We’re gonna shoot it out, motherfucker!” All of a sudden, a guy who is afraid becomes a killer. He’s scared to death, but he’s trying to kill this guy! It’s just an oxymoron, that side of fighting. These guys are frightened to death like cowards, but they’re fucking assassins. It’s strange—the psychological warfare in fighting.
In his hotel suite, Tyson was excited to tell me about a book he was reading — “A Natural History of Human Emotions,” by Stuart Walton — and asked me to read aloud a chapter on jealousy. We discussed the difference between jealousy and envy, and when I asked whether he ever envies his children getting the sort of parental love he never had, he said, “How did you know that?” I asked him whether he misses the glamour of his old life, and he answered, “That’s not who I am anymore.” Around 5:30, Kiki returned with Milan, who triumphantly marched in, carrying a new American Girl doll aloft. Tyson and his wife kissed each other, and he said, “I’m sorry if I upset you.” She answered serenely, “That’s O.K., honey,” as she went to get ready for their night out.
“I’m just disappointed with my performance,” Joyce told BT Sport after what was his 16th pro fight. “The right hand he kept hitting me with. I couldn’t get out of the way, so respect to Zhilei Zhang, ‘Big Bang’. I haven’t fought a southpaw for so long. … I expected to win like I normally do.
At the camp, Wan and Geddes fight, with Wan at first able to match Geddes, but he is eventually overwhelmed and seriously injured. Wan is taken to the hospital, where an emotional Ip calls Fat Bo to reveal his cancer; Fat Bo then angrily forces Ching to talk to his father, after many previous refusals. The older Ip apologizes to his son for striking him, and promises to teach Ching kung fu when he returns to Hong Kong. Hartman brings Ip to the Marines, and he triumphantly defeats Geddes after a long, strenuous fight.
Zhang was scheduled to fight Filip Hrgović in an IBF title eliminator on 7 May 2022. However, Hrgović pulled out of the fight on 2 May, after his father died and his training suffered. Scott Alexander was chosen as the replacement on the Canelo Álvarez vs. Dmitry Bivol undercard, with the fight being dropped from the co-main to the undercard. Zhang won the bout via first-round knockout. His fight against Hrgović was rescheduled for 20 August 2022, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on the undercard of Oleksandr Usyk vs Anthony Joshua II. On that night, Zhang knocked Hrgović down in the first round with a big right. After a close-fought battle over twelve rounds, the judges awarded the fight to Hrgović with two scores of 115–112 and one of 114–113, in what was described as a “generous” decision by broadcaster Sky Sports after a “bizarre” performance by Hrgović.