"I Didn't Feel Wilder's Power" - Zhilei Zhang

Wilder never KOed an iron chin fighter in his entire career. He made his reputation on knocking out bums like Molina or Shpilka. Even Chisora took out Shpilka faster than Wild Donkey

 

That's because this is the first fight of his career who had great power he knew he couldn't survive if he went wild... and when he did finally open he got destroyed.

 

Thanks for that clip. That was great.

 

let’s be fair — they both seemed afraid of each other. It’s not like Zhang marched in there fearless. He was almost as hesitant as Wilder.

 

Agreed.

 

I think Helenius begs to differ.

 

He only landed one half decent shot and that was enough to get Zhang to back up, and Zhang has a good chin. Two years ago he slept Helenius with a punch that wasn't even fully leveraged. He still has power. Enough with the "we must save Fury's rep" narrative.

He didn't land anything of consequence by that stage on Ortiz either in any of their fights. Zhang just found the mark earlier, which was to be expected since he's a much more skillful fighter.

 

I heard him say Deontay hits very hard and that he blocked a few of wilders shots but the ones that got through he felt very hard and had a lot of respect for wilder power.

This was directly after the fight. I still think Wilder is one of the hardest hitting heavies of all time. And the hardest hitter p4p of all time.

He is smaller than a cruiserweight and he routinely knocks out 250 pound heavyweights in short order. Usually with just one punch.

 

Indeed.

And it's completely understandable.

You can't commit fully to wild throws against guys who can read you and counter it - it's too risky.
The myth of outrageous power was built on throwing recklessly hard against guys who weren't good enough to see it coming and/or good enough or powerful enough to punish him for missing.

Power against bums and power against contenders are totally, totally different things.

 

Is he the greatest Chinese Heavyweight boxer of all time? The man is a genetic anomaly built like the Great Wall, with the IQ of Confucious. His head is made of concrete or some type of metal. Is he an experiment?

 

All due respect that was over 2 years ago, where a lot can change, especially when you aren't active. Helenius also wasn't very good, to show the cracks in Wilder's armor.

For me it's a night and day difference between this Wilder, and the Wilder before Fury IIII.

 

Wilder doesn't have to suck to think guys like Zhang and Parker would have beaten him in his prime. Joyce was brutally kayoed by Zhang despite beating Jennings, Dubois, and Parker.

 

Well, it was after the Fury fights and it was a very hard punch, and Helenius would probably rank among the better guys Wilder has KO'd. Certainly rendered unconscious with one single punch.

Really? I must strongly disagree. When I watch Wilder against Ortiz, who is basically a lesser version of Zhang imo, I see Zhang doing pretty much the same to that Wilder as he did last night. Wilder was actually dominated by Wahington until he managed to land a fight changing punch.

That is the prime Wilder that now seems to be elevated to some mythical being. I just don't understand that at all, to be honest.

He's always been very limited and his choice of opponents have taken that into consideration. His last two are probably his best next to Fury and the difference in quality showed.

Not that age and wear and tear have taken zero toll, but for me this is pretty much what always would have happened had he faced this quality of opposition. That's why he didn't.

 

1. I'm not elevating Wilder to some mythical being. If you remember in classic, I was the one who called out his fanboys for saying he'd beat Foreman with ease.
2. We'll just have to agree to disagree. It was clear as day from the first round to me, something was off with Wilder. His equilibrium was worse than ever when he wasn't even hit, and his punch resistance has slipped dramatically. He was genuinely being phased by glancing blows.

He absolutely fit the definition of a shot fighter and it has nothing to do with his level of competition. Wilder looked far better against Fury, who was a much better fighter than Parker and Zhang.