Part of the stacked card on February twenty-second in Riyadh. WBC interim heavyweight title at stake. Kabayel is the number two and Zhāng the number three ranked heavyweights by the WBC. Ahead of the pair is only Tyson Fury - who recently lost to champion Oleksandr Usyk and should be dropping from that #1 mandatory contender spot when the next edition of rankings is published. One common professional opponent: Andrii Rudenko lost via UD12 to Kabayel in March of 2019 and via UD10 to Zhāng in November of that same year. Combined, the Kurdish-Turkish-German former pro kickboxer and the Chinese southpaw have netted 39 stoppage victories in 55 bouts. They have identical reach, while the latter has a 3" height advantage and the former is nine years younger.
Anybody feel like the winner of this one is actually the more interesting prospective next challenge for Usyk than would be the winner of the co-main event? (so either a Dubois rematch, or Joe Parker) Really those are the only viable options for the Ukrainian - re-collecting the IBF strap, or re-integrating the interim and regular WBC titles. Any match-up that isn't a form of HW championship unification and doesn't involve any of these four challengers right now feels like a waste of time. Pointless trilogy extensions with Joshua or Fury might be more lucrative, but he's a very clear 2-0 against both.
I think Parker did lay out the blueprint to beat Zhang. I think Kabayel can fight in that exact same style. I think Kabayel is going to gas Zhang out and punish him to the body and stop Zhang. I like both of them but if I will have to choose one I choose Zhang but I don’t think that’s going to happen.
I pick Kabayel here to do the job over Zhang. And I think it's a perfect final fight for Usyk after beating the winner of Dubois/Parker. The only other HW of note would be Bakole after that, or maybe just retiring into the sunset.
Zhang is a lot like Old George Foreman. He is plodding and slow and can be easy to hit. Also, like George, Zhang can take a hard shot and come back with a harder one. Kabayel has stolen the 0s from two of this fellow "they could be goods" and is ready to move up to Zhang's level. I've liked Kabayel's movement and punch variety and I'm going to take Agit for the upset.
I pick Kabayel, as much as I like Zhang I think Kabayel is completely wrong for him, Kabayel likes to go to the body and I think he is the best heavyweight today when it comes to targeting the body, Kabayel by late TKO...
I got Kabayel by points in a cagey fight at times as I think Kabayel will respect Zhang's power but he will implement Parker's strategy with a higher concentration towards the body and be able to tire Zhang out in the long-run. I'm not confident with my pick as I have a feeling Zhang will counter Kabayel early and stop him as he really does hit that hard.
Kabayel outboxes Zhang for a decision, but has to get off the canvas a time or two to do it. He’s all wrong for Zhang, but I get why Zhang took the fight.
Hey Fog, I think George and Zhang had entirely different mindset when it comes to offense though. George was a general controlling hands, arms, and shoulders with his long guard, or barring behind the crossed armed defence when experience needed to halt the energy and speed of youth. Zhilei is a something of a juggernaut counterpuncher capable of pushing action, but ultimately less comfortable in leading and breaking down his target. I agree on Agit potentially taking it. Cheers and happy new year
If Kabayel doesn’t struggle with the southpaw stance, I’m confident he wins. I don’t condone betting, but this might be on of the few instances where it’s worth a bet, because I assume the betting companies have this quite even, but looking at it stylistically, I heavily favour kabayel. He feints up and down early on, goes to the body, stays cautious picking his spots, goes to the body with the right then as Zhang counters, beat him to the punch with the left hook over the top then pull away, as Zhang gasses, that’s when Kabayel can start going through the gears and pressuring. Don’t actually bet on this, because 1 bet is a slippery slope.
Kabayel wins, doesn’t matter if he struggled with Chisora twice bro did you not hear he beat Usyk, prime Lennox Lewis, Godzilla and Goku in sparring matches bro