ZHILEI ZHANG has punched his way into title contention as a top five heavyweight contender after battering Joe Joyce.
The 2012 Olympic silver medallist stunned Joyce this month with a brutal sixth-round stoppage victory.
Joyce’s right eye was so grotesquely swollen the referee had no choice but to wave it off following advice from the ringside medic.
The win meant Zhang, 39, inherited the WBO interim title and mandatory position for Oleksandr Usyk’s title.
He also moved up to fourth in the Ring Magazine rankings with Joyce, 37, down to seven following the first loss in his career.
Usyk still leads the way at the top with the Ring, WBA, IBF and WBO belts to his name.
But he was unable to unify all four belts for the first time in heavyweight history as talks to fight Tyson Fury broke down.
As a result, Fury sits just behind with old rival Deontay Wilder named in second.
Anthony Joshua is placed in third but could leap above Wilder with the two in talks to fight in Saudi Arabia in December.
Andy Ruiz Jr sits in fifth and is in line to face Fury this summer following the collapse of the undisputed title decider.
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Dillian Whyte is sixth, a place above Joyce, and wants to rematch AJ in the summer having not fought since November,
Elsewhere, Luis Ortiz is eighth, Joseph Parker in ninth and Filip Hrgovic ranking just inside the top ten.
It means the likes of Daniel Dubois and Otto Wallin sit outside the Ring Magazine rankings.
