Zhang has let his 3 best opponents come back from a KD. He let Jerry Forrest come back from 3 10-8s in the first 3 rounds to get a draw. He had a point deducted but it was a 10 rounder. Put this in classic because I'm looking for precedent for this. Of course fighters have allowed more comebacks from KDs then Zhang. But % wise this is 4 of his best 6 or 7 opponents?
He’s… he’s really old and heavy, same as Foreman letting Stewart off he just couldn’t get ahead or in the right spots to do the job. Guys that come to him should be his forte… though Agit gutted him like a fish lol, though Agit is also one of the best body punchers I’ve seen at HW.
Thats the thing. That first fight he was 37 6 years younger than Foreman. Thats not that old. He was up 7 points after 4 rounds with 6 to go. Foreman was up 5 with 7 to go. Foreman actually won and this was a one time thing for him. Foreman was able to win or almost win his final 4 fights with no KDs in his mid 40s. Zhangs got 1 10 round decision over Rudenko with no KD. Won the late rounds. Boxrec has Rudenko 195th and has Forrest in the top 70 so maybe thats just the difference there. Note-Both Foreman and Zhang had a point deduction. Meaning without that Zhang wins by 1 point and George wins by 2 points.
Zhang is like a 450hp engine with only a 2 barrel carbeurator and a 3 litre gas tank For a couple of round very dangerous with counters. Then he’s done So unless by choke artist you mean gasping for air I think it’s more his cardio deficiency
Good to see you’re fair with Zhang, lots of folks will dog pile modern guys but will look at the moon cycles and find out the blood pressure medication of there favourite ye old super hero.
Zhang is a savage puncher. Devastating power. Against Parker and Kabayel he failed to put the finisher on them after knockdowns. It is what it is at this point. He’s an older fighter that is capable of knocking out anyone he fights but his gas tank is extremely small compared to his opponents.
I think the only two modern guys I actively considered overrated were Dubois and Fury. The rest are my era after all so I'm already feeling the nostalgia with Usyk nearing an end and all
The thing is with Zhang's knock downs against Hrgovic, Kabayel and Parker is that they didn't actually seem to do much damage. They didn't scramble their brains like a Wilder right hand, or do any lasting damage. I think Parker alluded to the in an interview where he said the difference was weight. Zhang throws a sneaky, quick punch with a lot of weight behind it that sends fighters down but doesn't actually hurt them badly. I mean we saw it in the fights I mentioned above, all three fighters got up cleared eye and with their feet under them. At no point did they even look close to being counted out.
Maybe a little bit of a choke artist but I think he is just limited. Poor stamina means he cannot press his advantage and is forced to try and one or two shot a hurt guy and not go on a rally. The way I felt about the Parker fight the last time I saw it was he dropped Parker so easily so early he appeared to fight like he expected to drop Parker again the next time he landed and was too patient. He did seem like he was letting Joyce off the hook in the first fight before the eye closed and ended the fight
I think he does lack some mental fortitude. Sure, he's a fat ogre and doesn't have a good engine, but seems he's kind of ok with losing as well. If he lost weight he'd have better endurance but like most HW boxers he isn't an actual athlete.
Joyce was definitely his best opponent at the time and he brutally stopped him. I think he always performs about the same, he's just a very flawed fighter.