"He is a small guy" - Zhilei Zhang dismisses Canelo Alvarez's chances against Oleksandr Usyk 

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Zhilei Zhang (left), Canelo Alvarez (center), Oleksandr Usyk (right) [Images courtesy of Getty]

In an interview with Boxing Social, Zhilei Zhang shared his opinion on the possibility of a Canelo Alvarez vs. Oleksandr Usyk superfight.

When asked about his thoughts on Alvarez fighting one pound above cruiserweight in order to face Usyk, Zhang laughed and stated:

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"He must be joking, right? I think he's a small guy going the heavyweight division. The size diference is there, you just can't ignore that."

Aside from weight, Canelo stands at 5'7", with a reach of 70 inches while Usyk is 6'3" with a reach of 78 inches.

Zhang went on to say:

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"Maybe he's sparred with heavyweights a few times and feels good about himself and wants to make that move, but Usyk is a top-level heavyweight."

Canelo Alvarez is set to fight Dmitry Bivol on Saturday night, but already has his sights set on the ultimate prize fight at heavyweight with Oleksandr Usyk.

In Alvarez's Instagram post promoting his match with Bivol, fight fans can see a clear height and reach difference. This will only grow bigger if he wants to fight Usyk:

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In an interview with ESPN, when asked why he wants to fight Usyk, Canelo stated:

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"Why not? I'll fight everyone, I don't f*cking care."

Watch the full interview here:

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Zhilei Zhang discusses his upcoming fight, and what's next

Zhilei Zhang is set to fight Saturday night on the Alvarez vs. Bivol card in MSG. His original opponent, Filip Hrgovic, was forced to withdraw from their matchup due to his father passing away.

This was a highly anticipated fight on the card, with both fighters being former Olympic athletes. A replacement has been found in Scott Alexander, who accepted the fight on incredibly short notice.

Zhang stated that he would be treating Alexander, who is somewhat unknown to him, as if he were Filip Hrgovic. When asked if he would fight Hrgovic for his next match should he win Saturday, Zhang stated:

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"Right now my focus is this fight. This is the most important fight, and what happens after that fight I think my team, his team, and Matchroom will have to come up with something all together. I believe everyone will agree on it."

It sounds likely that should Zhang win Saturday night, talks will be in the works to get a match rescheduled with Hrgovich.

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