Why is everyone writing off Zhang Zhilei so soon?

Actually it does, Hrgovic is a faaaaaar better opponent who's far more adept at landing that very punch, over and over again. Not just a one off because Zhang got lazy.

 

Most likely, but if he got as dehydrated as he did last year in Miami during February, where the average temperature is 75° F, I doubt it'll matter. He's a big SOB, so they better have him on a Gatorade IV.

 

Well the point I was making directly pertained to Hrgovic landing a shot like that and what the possible effect could be. Like I said earlier, I'm not even close to writing Zhang off, he hits like a Mack truck, so anything can happen, nothing will shock me, because I'm not even close to sold on either one.

 

Hrgovic was involved in some real tough fights in the WSB where he proved his chin, heart and toughness. He was very young but he ticked all those boxes.

Here's a post of mine regarding his chin

'People say Hrgovic has a good chin because he's never been down in sparring, amateur, semi-pro or pro or even been noticeably hurt. This is very rare for a HW or SHW who fought at the highest level in the amateurs and he also had 30 fights in the WSB

He fought at the highest level against many of the best amateurs in the world prior to turning over and we've seen him get cracked on the chin many times. He's also sparred absolutely murderous punchers like Wlad, The Bronze Dosser, David Haye and Daniel Dubois and gave them very good work and was never down against any of them.

"Filip is extremely talented"

"He showed in the past, through his Olympic record and his professional record. I have been sparring with him and he was really, really tough, even in my best days back then''

--Wlad Klitschko


He stopped Dubois, split Haye's eye open, and more than held his own against a 28-0, 28 y/o Bronze Dosser when he was like an 19 or 20 y/o amateur

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This doesn't mean Hrgovic has the best chin at HW but most of the world's best HWs and SHW amateurs and the world's current best HWs pros have been hurt, dropped, stopped or KO'd when they were amateurs.

AJ was dropped and stopped in the amateurs. Ditto for The Bronze Dosser. Ditto for Lennox Lewis. Ditto for Wlad. Ditto for Riddick Bowe. Ditto for Yoka. Ditto for Zhang. Ditto for Wallin. Ditto for Makhmudov. Ditto for Frazer Clarke. Ditto for Dychko. Ditto for Sirenko. Ditto for Joe Joyce. All dropped and stopped or KO'd.

Hrgovic fought fighters who stopped AJ, Joyce, Yoka, Makhmudov, Wallin, Zhang, and Clarke and sparred Wlad who knocked out The Bronze Dosser in the gym.

Among many others Hrgovic fought in the ams and WSB are Roberto Cammarelle, Joseph Parker, Mihai Nistor, Ivan Dychko, Tony Yoka, Sergey Kuzmin, Magomed Omarov, Lenier Pero, Jose Larduet, Yoandry Toirac, Ali Eren Demirezen, Sergey Kharitonov, Abdulkadir Abdullayev, Brandon Glanton, Viktar Zuyeu, Alexander Povernov, Vitaly Kudukhov.'

I actually think Zhang is one of the few HWs who could stop Hrgovic but Zhang has been dropped a bunch of times, and stopped. I'm sure AJ dropped him in their fight and Cammarelle dropped and stopped him.

Hrgovic was 21 here (no head gear)

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Here's Cammarelle one punch sparking out Cuban Robert Alfonso on his face in HL reel fashion whilst wearing headgear

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Here he is stopping a 28 y/o Zhang (with headgear)

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The last two losses on Zhang's amateur record are to the Cuban duo Yoandry Toirac and Jose Larduet

Here's Hrgovic stopping both

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Here he is stopping another top Cuban

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Of Pero's listed 120 amateur fights he's only been stopped one other time

Of Larduet's 179 listed amateur bouts he has only been stopped one other time too

Look at the company they've mixed in and who they've fought and beaten

https://boxrec.com/en/amateurboxer/852701
https://boxrec.com/en/amateurboxer/850300

Hrgovic is the only man to stop Toirac in his listed 108 bouts

Look at who he's fought and beaten

https://boxrec.com/en/amateurboxer/852498

One thing which concerns me for Hrgovic here is he's very recently switched trainers from Pedro Diaz to Ronnie Shields, and this isn't a AJ-Garcia scenario where they've actually been working together for like 10 or 11 months, and it sounds like Shields is trying to change his style. He has him jabbing a lot more and his jab looked slow and unimpressive to me and this is a dangerous fight for Hrgovic to start experimenting with new things because Zhang hits crazy hard and is a lot heavier than Hrgovic.