no offense bud but i dont think you know whst your on about zhang was ill against forrest he should never of been anywhere near ring tua and samoan it has to do with being sold to public samoans are known worldwide for being being strong tough fellas and the rugby its called selling if he was bulgarian nobody would care thats a fact bud no offense
He was promoted because he was a KO artist, he viciously stopped John Ruiz in seconds on an HBO featured card, then KOd in 1 round Darrol Wilson again on HBO, then had an exciting fight against David Izon on HBO. It wasn't because of nationality, it was because he was exciting
Tua become popular because he was an exciting KO artist, he was the same height and build as Tyson. And at the time he was being compared to Tyson because of that, and the fact he had alot of early KO's like Tyson. Tua could've been any nationality or any race and still would've been very popular due to his style, boxing fans love exciting KO artists especially at Heavyweight. As for Zhang again as I said yes hes shown some good qualities as of late, but I still think people might be jumping the gun a little bit with him like they did Joyce. Zhang is 1-1 against two novices in professional ranks who were untested, let's see Zhang against against some more elite Heavyweights before we make a final judgement.
I favour Zhang against Tua aswell but I need to see a bit more of him before I make final judgement. My only issue with Zhang against Tua is his suspect stamina, as I said earlier Tua has stopped opponents early and late on in fights. And it might be a little be worrying for Zhang if he gasses vs a puncher like Tua.
I happen to think Tua is quite overrated in most H2H matchups, despite being my countryman (and I was obviously a big fan of his). I don't see why everyone is picking Zhang so confidently though. Yes, Zhang has the better skills, but he will really struggle to go 12 rounds without majorly tiring. Tua has a decent chin and is unlikely to get stopped, and if it goes to the last third of the fight Zhang will be in trouble. Tua also was far more proven at elite level.
Joyce's pitter patter wasn't exactly any deterrent for Zhang, so this is a really hard one to call with such limited data. I imagine the key for Tua would be landing some power shots to the body of Zhang and seeing how he deals with them. It would be interesting to see if he could close the range and how Zhang's left straight controls the range vs a Lewis jab. The left straight clearly has more mustard on it so it's not going to be thrown with the frequency of a jab. Also hard to know if Zhang was once more formidable given his late appearance on the western HW pro scene.
Tua late stoppage. He was famous for turning up the heat late in fights and Zhang is well-known to be a front runner that gasses after 6 rounds.
as someone who very strongly believes Tua tends to get overrated h2h, the opposite seems to have become increasingly the case in recent years. There's lots of reasons to like Zhang here - size, reach, boxing pedigree, southpaw stance all things Tua struggled with over the course of his career.... But Zhang also has a tendency to fade in fights, and Tua staged many late fight rallies over the course of his career. It's a close one.
Tua could be a handful. Dynamite in his hands and a solid chin but he was beaten every time he stepped up to top level. He beat a few half decent fighters but other than blitzing john ruiz and stopping rahman, the rest of his record is quite weak. Great fighter to watch when he was on form though. It's hard to compare the two. Despite zhang's age, he still seems to be improving. I'd rather wait to judge him on his entire career rather than one that hasn't peaked yet
this, more or less. Tua used to still be ticking along late and Zhang gasses by the fourth. Could Zhang stop Tua in 4? I doubt it. I think Tua by decision is the most likely, though you never know of course.