The WBO interim heavyweight title will be up for grabs at the OVO Wembley Arena on Saturday, September 23 when Joe Joyce and current champion Zhilel Zhang fight in rematch for the title. Zhang will be defending the belt after he won the first fight in April. The fight is scheduled for 12 rounds.
ESPN+ will handle the broadcast with the main card beginning at 2:30 p.m. ET and the main event expected to start around 5:30 p.m. ET
Zhang (25-1-1, 20 KOs) is an unlikely champion, but as a massive underdog the 40-year-old Chinese born fighter, earned his first world title with a sixth-round TKO win over Joyce on April 15, 2023. He was a silver medalist at the 2008 Beijing Games in the super-heavyweight division. He will be making $600,000 for this fight, per official promoter receipts, and he is a -130 favorite at DraftKings Sportsbook.
Joyce (15-1, 14 KOs) won his first regional title in his fourth fight and continued to pile up regional championship until he was the No. 1 contender for the WBO interim title. The-38-year-old from London won the belt against Joseph Parker with an 11th-round KO on September 24, 2022 and lost it to Zhang in his first title defense. Joyce will have the hometown crowd behind him and the bigger check at $668,644.
Both fighters could earn additional money from sponsorships and endorsements.