Zhāng Zhìlěi vs. Deontay Leshun Wilder

When it comes to Zhang he has the talents and skill to be competitive with anyone but you just can't seem to have much confidence in him getting the job done mainly because of his amazingly awful stamina and slow feet. He'll be dangerous in the first 5 rounds with Wilder but any rounds afterwards is just giving Wilder a much better opportunity. Wilder's right hand is still potent and he can possibly turn Zhang's lights out at any given moment, especially in the later rounds where Zhang is pretty much a sitting duck.

I say KO isn't out of the question for either Zhang or Wilder. Hopefully it turns into a short, fun, explosive punch out.

 

Little bit of both, I suspect...

Haymon probably encouraged him to avoid taking anything risky to keep the gravy train going - Wilder probably agreed as long as he could keep making okay rewards for limited risk.

I think he knew he'd lose to Whyte and Povetkin and wanted no part of either - and especially knew he'd lose to Joshua.

Once the gravytrain of holding a belt was over and it started being okay to question whether he was actually any good, and why you should buy his fights if he wasn't... Then it made sense to go for it and try to both build a new fanbase and prevent the old one from running away too quickly.

I'm not sure I'd call Parker an especially dangerous fight - at least not to his health - and made sense as a fight that offered good name value with (probably) some expectation that he was beatable and wouldn't do much damage in either outcome... We all know now that he wasn't beatable for Wilder, but at the time plenty clearly thought he was a ripe cherry begging to be picked.

Zhang is a different risk... Unlike Parker, he does possess massive power that could do real damage to Deontay. At the same time, he's still very well regarded for how limited his resume is and his gas tank is pretty awful.

This could go either way - I suspect Zhang having the better chin will swing it, and if he lands something heavy that Deontay doesn't see coming it'll be lights out... But it's not impossible that Wilder wins considering Zhang's age, speed and lack of stamina - especially if the loss to Parker WASN'T because of Wilder being "shot", but instead because he was up against a guy levels more proven and levels better overall than him in Parker.

 

They're both old, and possibly finished.

They're both grossly overrated - Zhang's best win is better, but he hasn't knocked out nearly as many journeymen.

This should always have been billed as "Heavy Hitting Hypejobs"

 

I never support dirty commie running dog boxers, but my trademarked Frank's Boxing Rick Calculator (TM) has revealed to me that in a million capitalist years Wilder couldn't knock The Great Wall out.

Big Bang by brutal, John Ruiz style KO, within 3 rounds.

 

Hypejob in what regard they were top 10 at a point even if overrated. Zhang obliterated Joyce despite it his only top win and he arguably beat Hrgovic too, but he does have bad performances. It's strange you always say the same thing over and over. We get it you don't like Wilder and yet you have no problem talking good about your fellow man Dubois who has no good wins and no belts, not even Ortiz level or Joyce level who were highly ranked. Wait Dubois lost that one I forgot.

Both are also way past it, in their prime they were certainly top 10, Zhang just didn't get any opportunities

 

Hypejob in the sense that Wilder was hyped as a top 2 fighter despite arguably only beating one fringe top ten fighter... And Zhang only ever beating one top ten contender in highly hyped Joyce.

Dubois is young and will actually take good fights - I've said a million times he's limited and his desire is questionable when he's up against it, but he deserves more credit than he gets.

Wilder's comments about wanting to kill someone in the ring are revolting - that aside I don't care too much about him personally, what I really don't like is seeing someone who's achieved very, very little in the sport being made out to be something special... If he was, he would've proved it - getting a gift of a fight against second rate Stiverne gave him the perfect platform to build whatever career he wanted, you can see what he chose to do with that platform.

Zhang didn't get any opportunities?!
He was fighting nobodies, and his first top 200 opponent took him to a draw (Forrest)... He then loses a tight decision to Hrgovic (who hadn't fought anyone else noteworthy) and loses all but a couple of rounds against Parker - yes the Joyce wins are good, but with how little else he accomplished it's no guarantee he was overly special.

They probably were both top ten... That says a lot more about how weak the era is than it does about what they did with their careers.

 

Literally none of this make them hypejobs just overrated, they are/were world level at their peak, and Dubois is crap. Credit for taking hard fights sure, no credit for winning any because he lost them badly and has some bad performances against weak opposition. Plus, why is he even being given another title opportunity so soon just after beating an obese no good Miller ? Just after getting trashed by Usyk. Maybe him taking the hard fights is merely result of matchmaking and his narrative being pushed constantly, so honestly.... I don't rate him at all

Wilder smashed Stiverne

 

60:40 in favour of Zhang. Zhang is the better boxer and has fast hands and mega power. But his stamina isn't good and he has slow feet.

Windmill has quick feet,good stamina and mega power. But is pretty one dimensional.

Fascinating match up.

 

Agreed, either man could score a ko and literally anything could happen. The only outcome that'd surprise me would be a Wilder UD.

 

Zhang winning by UD would be the most surprising result for me. Or perhaps if it ends in a draw.
The thing with Wilder is that he really can't box worth a lick but at the same time Zhang is almost completely useless in the late rounds. Both have great power to knock each other out and also have such glaring weaknesses, which is why this match up is intriguing and I can see this go either way.

 

Good point about Zhang in the later rounds, if Wilder hasn't taken any serious damage he could get the win late I suppose. I'll be tuning in for this one.

 

Zhang will knockout Wilder early in the fight, before 4 rounds I reckon. If Wilder can't take feather-fisted Fury's punches, he certainly isn't eating anything from Zhang without going to sleep.

Wilder, who throws nothing, won't test Zhang's stamina. Maybe he lands a big right hand and cold KO's Zhang but that is his only real chance. And I think Zhang is too smart to get clipped by one punch. Wilder isn't really a bad style match-up for Zhang but I do think Zhang is one for Wilder, who has a ton of heart but a not very good chin.

Zhang KO2.

 

If Zhang comes in at 300lbs again he’s getting ktfo.