Dave Allen vs Zhang

Zhang is getting older and worse but is still one of the biggest punchers in the world. Allen will need to tighten up his defense he will not be able to eat shots from Zhang.

 

Allen is having a lower key fight in January than a big fight in the spring as the headliner

Hard to turn down these bigger paying purses he’s getting now

He needs to tighten up that defense a bit and get his weight down a touch but I still think his outing against the Russian wasn’t bad at all

 

Parker beat him fairly

 

He can beat Zhang

 

In all seriousness... Makh is not very good, so losing at all doesn't bode well for Allen's chances against Zhang.

The real question is what Zhang's got left - he's been fighting father time for a while and you never really know what impact a first stoppage loss is going to have on a fighter until you see them get back in there... And we haven't seen Zhang since Kabayel stopped him.

 

I think Allen can outlast him and pick him apart late IF he can survive the early stages

 

It's a big if for someone who struggled with mediocre Makh... But that's pretty much how you beat Zhang - survive the opening few rounds, then rack up the points when he gasses badly as he always does.

And he's 50/50 against decent guys for a reason...

At the same time, unless age and/or the stoppage loss have declined him, I'd expect Zhang to get the job done.

 

Zhang does have poor stamina however it only seems to look dreadful when a fight is fought at a somewhat fast pace like against a come forward throws plenty of punches stud like Kabayel or a guy who can move about a bit like Parker not a slow slugging fighter like Allen who hardly let's his hands go as that plays right into Zhang's hands.

What would be fascinating is if Zhang clips him properly does it just bounce off Allen or not? I really think Zhang in terms of one-punch power is not far off prime Wilder and while Wardley and Dubois can both really whack old man Zhang is still most likely the hardest hitting contender in the division especially when it comes to one-punch KO power.

Either way unless Zhang is done and is on gas and air before it's over then he beats Dave Allen comfortably who I'm not sure is top 50 in the world.

 

He looked particularly poor in those fights... Mind you, it's 2 of his 3 most recent outings - and Wilder didn't take him into later rounds.

Has to be said, though, that losing a decision to Hrgovic who struggles with stamina himself, doesn't exactly point to a decent gas tank.

Can't disagree with that.

 

Zhang by savage KO. Allen is a sitting duck and that is death against a guy like Zhang.

 

ESPN fight at best

 

Lol cope

 

I dunno how Zhang got so overrated. There was a period there when folks wanted to believe you can be Frankenstein slow and still be great. Fil, Joyce, this tired old chinamin .... Allen not much worse than them really

 

Zhang is good and the power is there but he has very little stamina

That’s his problem

 

I think he has a point...

Zhang has great power, no doubts - but every fighter is a sum of their parts, and the only way to judge the whole is by comparison with their peers... Or, in other words, what does their resume tell you?

And Zhang, whilst dangerous to some fairly reputable opponents, is also a very mixed bag in results terms...
He has basically a 50/50 record at gatekeeper+ level (beat Joyce X2 and Wilder - lost to Hrgovic, Kabayel and Parker).

So:

Certainly seems like fair comment.

Ultimately, his problem is that he's one dimensional - he has great power and can generate it from seemingly nowhere... But he's also slow and has very poor stamina - not that that should be surprising given the age he finally stepped up at.

I've always thought, though, that very little will get a limited fighter massively overrated as much as great power will... And Zhang's in there.