At 6'6 inches tall and weighing 116 kg, Zhang Zhilei is used to standing out from the crowd. Now, the heavyweight boxer's goal is to put Chinese boxing on the map and fulfill his own ambitions of winning a world title.

The 39-year-old was born in Zhoukou, Henan before moving to the U.S. where he now lives and trains in Bloomfield, New Jersey. He's best known for winning a silver medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics before embarking on a professional career that has yielded 26 wins from 28 fights.

His success in Beijing provided the catalyst for a new wave of young people to take up the sport and attempt to follow in his footsteps, but boxing remains a fringe sport in a country where basketball, soccer and table tennis are played and watched by millions.

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But Zhang, who goes by the nickname 'Big Bang,' is still hopeful his success and future fights against big name stars could raise the profile of boxing and promote the sport to a mainstream audience in his homeland.

"Since the 2008 Olympics, boxing in China has been developing very quickly, and the attention on boxing is also very high," he told CGTN. "I certainly hope that the people in China, whether they are children or old people, can practice boxing.

"Sometimes there is no competition, but you can box to simply strengthen your body. But I hope that one day boxing in China will blossom like table tennis and be accepted by the public, and then everyone could join in with this sport, and then it will play a big role in the development of boxing in China."

Basketball legend Yao Ming and tennis star Li Na are arguably China's most famous sports stars, having enjoyed trophy-laden careers before retiring and Zhang believes the success of the country's best athletes will continue to shine a positive light on the country.

He added: "Yao Ming and Li Na both left their mark on their respective sports and have both done very well, and now I also hope that more and more Chinese athletes, professional athletes, have very good performances in their sports.

"I also hope that the success of Chinese athletes in others sports will allow foreign people to see that we are Chinese. Then let foreigners see the face of our Chinese sports people."

Zhang is preparing to face British boxer Joe Joyce in London on Saturday night. Both fighters have won Olympic silver medals and enjoyed success later in their careers, with Zhang approaching his 40th birthday and Joyce aged 37. But Zhang says age is no barrier to his sporting performance.

"Maybe people always feel that 40 years old is older, at least in China, because in China we're used to seeing athletes perform at their best when they were 27 or 28 years old, and then after that they felt old and retired," he says.

"I'm 40 years old and still learning in the ring, so for me age is just a number, it doesn't mean anything. As long as you go through systematic training, and then have a regular life, you can perform to a high level."

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