Poll - Who wins? David Haye or Zhilei Zhang?

Two counter punchers with KO power. Zhang's a lot bigger but he's also slower and less agile and Haye is more elusive, but Zhang takes a better punch.

I don't think Zhang can do what what Wlad did and keep it long with Haye out of range as his movement just isn't good enough. But then I don't think Haye can do what he did vs the much bigger Valuev and be in and out for 12 rounds as Zhang is so dangerous on the counter but then he might only needs to do it for 6-7 rounds as Zhang will gas and slow in the 2nd half and become far easier to out box.

I'm also not convinced Zhang has a chin as good as the Hrgovic fight showed as Hrgovic's power has only looked good against some pretty poor opposition, but he couldn't dent Zhang. But then Joshua had no difficulty dropping Zhang in the Olympics, if Haye lands flush he could very well hurt or even drop Zhang as his power was legit.

I'm not confident of picking a winner. Maybe Zhang is too big and KO's Haye early or Haye out boxes the slower Zhang in a stinker where both counter punchers struggle to lead and Haye wins a boring decision, or maybe he KO's Zhang late as Zhang gasses. I'm leaning towards Haye with his speed and defence based on what we've seen so far of Zhang but maybe I'll change my mind after he fights the quick fisted Joseph Parker. Will be interesting to see how Zhang does vs Parker.

 

Haye barely squeaked by against the sloth, light-hitting Valuev. "Big Bang" by big k.o.

 

Haye by late KO.

Too quick and too much stamina in the tank for Zhang - the Chinaman would gas and have the lights turned out.

 

Haye lost a lot of quality when he fight much bigger Man. A special when this big man can punch. He just start thinking more about defence and not get heart than actually winning fights.

Zhang can punch, got very quick hands and very strong chin.

Its very dangerous for Haye going with his haymakers vs someone like Zhang.

I would choose Zhilei. Haye in Hw was always overrated imo.

 

With respect - is Zhang not getting very overrated right now?

His best wins were over Joyce, who's a decent fighter but very, very basic with a D-tier defence who was a KO waiting to happen the moment he met a big enough puncher (which Zhang is).

Then the Hrgovic fight was a 50/50 - you could score it both ways, and lots of people disagree about it... But Hrgovic hasn't beaten anybody else relevant.

I don't think Zhang is a bad fighter, but I don't think he's the unstoppable force he's being made out to be recently... I'm not even convinced he's more than a fringe contender (which is still respectable given his advanced age).

 

Haye was a great fighter when he wasn’t worried about what was coming back at him. In this match he is concerned about that, so hard for me to pick him to win

 

David Haye is the biggest myth in British boxing

Celebrity game show contestant who **** himself every time there was remotely a challenge

**** the bed against Wlad, so scared to fight Fury that he pulled out twice

Sure he was a good cruiser but he achieved absolute **** all at heavyweight

Zhang destroys Haye, whose whole career was smoke and mirrors. And I would have said Zhang destroys Haye even before he knocked out Joyce

 

Zhang shatters Haye's chin with the first counter he lands.

 

Haye would have another father besides Tony Bellew after he fought Zhang.

Zhang KO1.

 

A boring fight with double digit landed punches. Haye takes in England. Big bang in China.

 

On what basis would you have said that, though?

As a pro, his biggest accomplishment before Joyce was going 50/50 with Hrgovic, whose best win was 37 year old journeyman Molina.... Zhang himself had basically no wins worth speaking of whatsoever at that point.

His reputation is almost entirely off the back of those two Joyce fights, IMHO

 

Yes, the Joyce wins were good wins... Joyce had been progressing up the division quickly, and was getting overhyped as unstoppable in the process.

Jennings was never more than a bang average gatekeeper level fighter - the best night of his career was a very, very clear UD loss to Wlad.

Dubois was (and still is, really) little more than a prospect.

Parker is really the only serious win Joyce has - and that's a very good win, no question.

Thing is though... In total... Zhang's entire heavyweight career hangs on having had Joyce's number (and Joyce being completely incapable of changing anything) and having gone 50/50 with Hrgovic who had (and still has) achieved next to nothing significant.

That's a really thin resume to be basing an assumption that Zhang is a serious contender on - and that's what a lot of people seem to be rating him as...
I just think you have to be more careful before buying into hype.

And especially where fantasy matchups go - it's very easy to let present moment hype influence your judgement.