Zhang Zhilei takes inspiration from boxing great Muhammad Ali to beat Joseph Parker

Zhang Zhilei has revealed he is training underwater like the legendary Muhammad Ali as he prepares to face Joseph Parker and defend his WBO interim world heavyweight title in Saudi Arabia.

The Chinese boxer - known as "Big Bang" - is in training for the biggest fight of his career to date against New Zealand puncher Parker in the Kingdom Arena, Riyadh, as the chief support to Anthony Joshua's showdown with mixed martial arts fighter-turned-boxer Francis Ngannou in the Saudi capital.

And he admits he is taking pointers from the late Muhammad Ali, widely regarded as the greatest heavyweight boxer of all time, in his bid to keep himself in line to fight the winner of May's undisputed world-title fight between Oleksandr Usyk, who holds the full WBO belt, and Tyson Fury.

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"For my swimming training, the former professional fighters, like Muhammad Ali, they did underwater training. It can enhance your cardio and I've borrowed that training method as well. Now a lot of boxers are doing this exercise, training in the water, swimming, it's very good for the cardio," the 40-year-old told CGTN.

Zhilei, who defeated Englishman Joe Joyce for a second time in his last outing in London in September, has a professional record of 26-1-1, including just a single, controversial loss to Croatia's Filip Hrgovic, also in Saudi Arabia.

For his second visit to the Middle Eastern country, Zhilei believes he is better prepared this time around and has acclimatized already after moving his training camp to Riyadh ahead of the Parker showdown, preferring to train at night.

He said: "After I came to Saudi Arabia, this is a desert area, the air is dry, it's hotter: I was thinking about that issue. After I came here, the climate, it's winter, it's comfortable and the temperature is not too high, so I drank a lot of water here, replenishing my body with water.

"I didn't think too much about jet lag because our fights are at night and then we didn't try to adjust to the time difference, because we train at night and then we rest during the day."

And Zhilei has brought over a trio of American sparring partners specifically to imitate the New Zealander, who at 193 centimeters is 5cm shorter than the 2008 Beijing Olympic super-heavyweight silver medalist.

New Jersey's Norman Neely, Virginian Joe Cusumano and Los Angeles puncher Federico Pacheco Jr have joined Zhilei in camp for the "Knockout Chaos" show this Friday. 

"Because Parker's speed is fast, more flexible, so we invited trainers who are imitations of Parker, with fast speed and combinations boxing. We have this targeted training," added Zhoukou-born Zhilei, who has 21 knockouts in his 26 career victories as a professional.

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