American heavyweight Deontay Wilder has signed with Matchroom Boxing owned by Eddie Hearn and will face Zhilei Zhang of China as part of the five-versus-five card against Queensberry Promotions on June 1, in Saudi Arabia.
Matchroom and Queensberry unveiled their fighters in the most spectacular fashion at a news conference in London as the 10 boxers wore white masks before being unveiled one by one.
Heavyweight Daniel Dubois, the first to be revealed, will face Filip Hrgovic in a world-title final eliminator in Riyadh while featherweight Nick Ball will challenge WBA world champion Raymond Ford.
A middleweight contest between unbeaten Englishman Hamzah Sheeraz and American Austin Williams as well as an all-British cruiserweight bout between Willy Hutchinson and Craig Richards complete the line-up.
Wilder was the last man to be unmasked.
He screamed his trademark ‘Bomb Squad’ as a grinning Hearn pumped his fist.
The link up between Hearn and Wilder came as a huge surprise given their history and demonstrates how any rift in boxing can be resolved with Saudi Arabian influence.
They have been at each other’s throats for the best part of a decade as Hearn backed Anthony Joshua in a potential fight between the two which has not yet materialised.
Wilder, who has fought primarily on Premier Boxing Championship belonging to Al Haymon, was one of the most destructive power punchers in the division but has won just one bout since November 2019 and was outpointed by Joseph Parker in December.
He said nobody ever thought that he and Hearn would be working together describing their link up as the ultimate surprise.
An emotional Wilder said he considers his fight with Zhang as his last chance to show he is still a great boxer as he lost the love, hunger and passion for boxing due to many different reasons.
He insists he is not playing around this time as he has got nothing to lose.
Both Wilder and Zhang are coming into the bout after losses in their last fights.