The both looked like crap. If Forrest is a top 20 HW in the world, then I feel sorry bout the HW's. I very feel.
Forrest's stock went up. He's not got much power but being knocked down in 3 successive rounds and coming back to almost steal a win ( on my card I had it 94-92 Forrest, with the only other possible scorecard being 93-93 if you give the 4th to Zhang ) is impressive. He'll get some shots against higher ranked fighters from that display, so I'm pleased for him. As for Zhang, I wouldn't be surprised if he just disappears after that. His gas tank is atrocious, it was only that Forrest himself was shattered by the end that he didn't go down. He would've been stopped if the fight was over 12.
It was a terrible display of skills or talent but an Incredible fight really. You score a Knockdown in rounds 1,2 and 3 in a 10 round fight, hanging on for dear life in the final round and are lucky to get a draw against an opponent hand picked to make you look good Hearn has dished up some crap over the years, yeaaah I'm looking at you Dave Allen, Audley Harrison, David Price and some others but if Zhang was called Peter Jones from South Wales he wouldn't be anywhere near a card like that and wouldn't be signed to Matchroom. This is no better than having YouTubers on the bill, it's all about marketing, nothing to do with boxing.
All part of Zhang's plan to look tasty as a non mandatory tune up title challenger. Still undefeated. It's a shame. A big useless lug like that doesn't deserve a big mansion!
They're 2 low level guys that fought to a draw. Forrest, at least, showed heart and grit. Zhang showed he has no gas tank.
Though most of the action was terrible, it was an amazing narrative. The third or fourth round was also the first time I've seen Zhang look like he was fighting rather than just going through his techniques. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a rematch.
“But in the locker room afterward, we noticed some concerning symptoms and took Zhang to the hospital where he will spend a couple of nights. The good news is that all of his neurological scans are clear. However, he is suffering from anemia, high enzyme levels and low-level renal failure, which may have been caused by severe dehydration.” Zhang is in the hospital, sounds like he overtrained and no wonder he looked completely gassed since round 4.
I would like to see Wilder vs Forrest. I don’t want to see Forrest get hurt but it would be a fair shot against a high profile name. And Wilder needs a comeback opponent as well after the long layoff.
Horn had a connection to an Aussie fan base having fought there consistently through his career. His fights were doing better than half empty college gyms. Fa isn't going to be a PPV draw on his own, especially not after the Parker fight and ****ing God awful that was. Also fighting in China wouldn't have the site fee of the Middle East and would damage British PPV.
This was a pretty good heavyweight slugfest and the first fight from Zhang (think I've seen 3?) that I found entertaining. I'm sorry to hear that he was hurt enough to merit hospitalization and hope that any damage is not lasting and that it's down to some correction that can be made in camp. As for Forrest, that's the first exposure I've had to the man and based on based his performance will be sure to watch him next time out.
Like I said, given the right opponent, a worthless local talent with little draw can attract a huge audience. Like Fa. Like Horn. So a chinese Heavyweight fighting for a heavyweight belt in China will draw lots of interest over there. And China has coughted up big bucks for Manny. Who knows, they might do the same for Joshua.
