Zhāng Zhìlěi vs. Deontay Leshun Wilder

E, I don't care for Wilder, but that seems a tad harsh. Maybe Wilder had an off night - every fighter has those. Many thought Joe P would lose, and I don't want to take away from Joseph's win.

In the poll nearly a third have voted for Wilder. The consensus, among boxing analysts & most here, is Zhang is favored first half of the fight, but if Wilder can get to the second half his chances rise greatly due to Zhang's poor engine. I voted for ZZ by KO but a Wilder win wouldn't shock me. We'll see soon if Wilder, Zhang, or both are shot !

Zhang recently turned 41 & Wilder is near 39. What's very likely is that both are near the end as top HWs.

 

Zhang by face plant KO

 

He was always like that.

The only reason he didn't get more crap for it was because he had a degree of respect as a champion - now the delusion has largely passed, people seem to see it more for what it is: deranged and a bad image for the sport.

 

They're both near the end of their careers fullstop.

Neither were truly top HW's, though - Wilder ducked every contender that chased him until his cherrypick of unfit Fury went wrong for him.... And Zhang is literally 2-2-1 against top-200 ranked fighters.

Both look dangerous and would have a punchers chance against anyone - but "top" heavies? I'm not convinced.

 

Zhang is far better than Helenius.

 

Genuinely think Wilder could win this inside 3 rounds.

 

Tough talk from a Glass Jawed fighter. Its far more likely that Wilder ends up that way than Zhang.

 

I voted for ZZ by KO, but I wouldn't want to bet on it these guys are too old and too close to the end for either one to be seen as a serious favorite in my view.

Wow, now that I think of it, the same could be said for almost the entirety of the top 10 of the heavyweight division.

 

Too bad Zhang has to be at the end of his career.

He’s another good man for boxing.

Friendly, polite but still very menacing when he switched modes in the ring.

His confidence, power and supplementary skills are very compelling viewing for mine - until he gasses, and then he doesn’t do much at all, lol.

Zhang saying he’s going to “Bang” this, that and the other opponent is right up there with Usyk’s “I am very feel”. I love it. Lol.

 

I I did just watch the Parker fight and it is concerning how often he got hit by right hands and how little he did to try to set up his offense I could see this fight being a pose Fest

 

Are we sure Zhang is really 282.8 lb and not 228.8 lb? It was La La Land Buffer announcing the weights after all....

Good to see that Zhang has forgone a few succulent Chinese meals to come in that bit lighter than last time out.

Ive got Zhang.

However, while I don’t wish significant harm on either fighter, it would be interesting to see Wilder land one decent power right hand to give a better idea of the upper limit resilience of Big Bang’s chin.

Per the tests to date, Zhang appears to have a very decent set of whiskers.

Zhang’s calm is zen like. His relaxed but focused/confident manner is infectious.

 

Yeah that's a big difference is weight but let's be honest at least 20lbs of that is excess body fat on Zhang. He's in better shape than he has been recently but he used to consistently fight between 250-260lbs, so he's still far from being at an ideal weight.

Wilder needs to target that soft body to empty Zhang's gas tank as well as creating opportunities to land the right hand up top, much like how Parker did vs Zhang by keeping Zhang guessing by land rights to the body, then suddenly switching the right hand up stairs. But given Wilder's lack of ring IQ and inexperienced corner in Scott such a nuanced strategy will likely be beyond him.

 

I don’t think Wilder is active enough to gas out Zhang.

When there’s not much coming back it’s easy to coast.

I don’t think stamina will be the undoing of Zhang here. We saw how Wilder fought a big puncher in Ortiz 2. Constantly retreating land zero punches until round 7 and then get an early stoppage knockout.

Wilder did nothing in the first 6 against Ortiz 2. Landed no punches, literally . Zhang is bigger in size and has more power than Ortiz. I’d also say his 2-3 combo counters are quicker than anything Ortiz had.

Zhang is the biggest puncher Wilder has ever fought, and the biggest puncher by quite some margin that he’s faced in the last 4-5 years.

When Zhang hits Wilder I cant imagine how he will respond. Given he was rocked and scared of Furys pillows in fight 2, Zhangs power may make him extremely hesitant to throw.

Again all that said, southpaws can be suckers for right hands. Wilder has quick rapid 1-2s, as @CST80 mentioned, Parker had no problem landing.

Only thing is Parker is fairly elusive and able to move compared to Wilder…

TLDR I don’t have a ****ing clue, but going with Zhang rounds 4-6 Horrific KO