Ortiz at his best was much more well rounded than Zhang. Zhang has all time power, but totally falls apart against guys who don't stay on the canvas. Basically, prime Ortiz would've been a problem for almost any heavyweight, and Zhang would be a problem for guys who coudn't move out of the way or had crappy chins.
Adrien Broner was once ranked top 6 P4P too, just because The Ring says it's true doesn't mean it's true. The fact he was ranked in the top 10 by The Ring for that long and achieved nothing but beat Jennings and lose twice to Wilder just goes to show how meaningless a ranking is when you don't actually face decent opposition consistently. Same with Josh Taylor all those belts, top 10 P4P according to the ring but the moment he fights someone who doesn't just stand and trade with him he loses 3 times and then that ranking looks embarrassing. You said it yourself everyone only thinks about the present and yes Zhang might very well lose his next fight but I'd argue his wins over Joyce and Wilder already rank above anything Ortiz has done, I mean he beat Wilder when Ortiz couldn't and did so at an age older than when Ortiz fought Wilder. Fact is Zhang at 41 now is past prime, he wasted his prime.
Recency bias aside, I would say Ortiz in his pomp was a better fighter. Technically I feel Ortiz is a level above, and he has thudding power of his own; if he was allowed by Haymon to fight AJ in his US debut, instead of Ruiz, then I feel there was a good chance he would have caught and stopped AJ. I like Zhang and I'm not having a slight at him; he is technically decent given his size, but ultimately he is carried by his size and power and less so technique.
You feel he was a better fighter? Fact - Zhang was by far the more accomplished amateur. Fact - Zhang has a better resume. Fact - Zhang beat Wilder at the age of 41 while a younger Ortiz lost to Wilder. I will go with hard, measurable facts over a "feeling." It's a shame we never saw Zhang fight Ortiz in the amateurs they were operating at the same time, but Zhang was operating on the world level as an amateur while Ortiz was stuck in Cuba and rarely fighting on the international level. In terms of technique I think Zhang is on a similar level. Both are superb counter punchers, neither are light on their feet and are plodders, both are open for right hands. Ortiz has a better and more consistent jab, but Zhang is better at cutting off the ring and is better on the inside. Even if Ortiz is technically better, Zhang as advantages in size, reach, better chin too. I think he hits harder than Ortiz too.
The same could be said, to a lesser degree, about Ortiz. Most of his success came from his clubbing knockout power. If he didn't hit hard he might not have beaten Jennings, Thompson, Scott or Martin, many of which fights were sort of evenly contested until Ortiz hit them with a big shot that scrambled their brains. I don't see a huge skill gap really. Ortiz was better at pull counters and holds his form better over the course of the fight while Zhang is better at check hooks and sneaky ambush shots. Other than that Ortiz tended to fight at quite a predictable rhythm while Zhang is sort of hard to read, and hides his shots really well. Ultimately though their respective quality rests on their resumes, and in that respect Zhang is by far the superior.
Given what Ortiz has achieved in his career, I think it’s fair to say that he’s a style over substance fighter. As soon as an opportunity came his way against serious opponents he fell short. Whenever I see someone propping him up I can’t help but think that they must be Wilder fans.
You're wrong about Wilder's age he was 38 the same age Ortiz was when he fought Wilder, not 39. Yeah Wilder was older against Zhang and had 18 more fights, so maybe if that was the only metric to compare Zhang and Ortiz then you'd have a point but fact is Zhang still has better accomplishments than Ortiz. Zhang also didn't duck the big fights when they were offered unlike Ortiz. Ortiz ducked Ustinov twice and Joshua twice, fact is he was risk adverse probably because he knew he wasn't as good as people made out.
Do you really want a body on Zhang's resume, dude? What cruel you are. Lol PS: a little bit of respect please for any Grandpa of this planet. Lol
I don't know about that Zhang is an Olympic silver medalist, Ortiz never even managed remotely that level as a pro or amateur.