Zhang anxious to put Joshua on his hit list

Unbeaten Chinese southpaws Zhang Zhilei and Meng Fanlong continued their climb in the world rankings with spectacular first-round knockouts at the Winna-Vegas Casino & Resort in Sloan, Iowa, on the weekend.

In his first bout in 10 months, heavyweight Zhang showed no signs of ring rust and improved to 19-0 with his 15th stoppage - a 90-second obliteration of German veteran Eugen Buchmiller (11-4) to successfully defend his WBO Oriental title.

The 6-foot-6, 255-pound Zhang, who won a silver medal for China at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, hurt Buchmiller with the first punch he landed, then continued to batter him with a vicious body assault until the German was counted out by referee Adam Pollack.

It marked the sixth straight bout in which Zhang finished his opponent in the opening round, and with the win the 35-year-old from Zhoukou, Henan province, will vault from No 12 to No 10 in the WBO rankings.

A top-10 ranking potentially puts him on track for a title shot against unified world champion Anthony Joshua of Britain, who defeated Zhang 11-5 in the quarterfinals at the 2012 London Olympics.

"I want to fight Joshua very, very much ... and as soon as possible," Zhang, who lives and trains in Las Vegas, told boxingscene.com earlier this year.

"I can't say enough how much I want to fight him. When I'm punching the heavy bag, I imagine that it is Anthony Joshua."

Zhang's trainer, former light heavyweight contender Shaun George, is convinced Zhang is the real deal.

"He lost to Joshua at the London Games, but that's a fight that, with the right game plan, he could win," George told boxingscene.com.

"Joshua is very impressive; he's a young guy who can really punch. But when Zhang gets in the ring with him, they're gonna know they're in with a hungry fighter - a real hungry, aggressive, smart fighter.

"He's at a much higher level now, mentally and physically. What it comes down to is being mentally ready, and Zhang is. He's showing it in the gym and he's showing it in his willingness to learn. He's willing to fight anybody out there."

Meanwhile, the 30-year-old Meng, who hails from Chifeng, Inner Mongolia and goes by the ring moniker "Cold Blood," moved to 13-0 and a likely ranking in the world's top 15 by taking a little over two minutes to blast out American Chris Eppley (11-5) for his eighth KO.

The bout was Meng's first since last October, when he captured the vacant IBF Intercontinental light heavyweight title with a unanimous decision over Ghana's Emmanuel Danso in Macao. Danso was 28-1 going in to that fight.