I have a weird feeling that Zhang vs. Kabayel will be pretty one sided.

I have the feeling that Kabayel will be in the top 3 of the division quite soon

 

The thing that gives me pause is...

Zhang's been competitive with proven contenders - Kabayel has never fought one (and he's not really fought a proper proven gatekeeper in 7-8 years!).

I would always be very, very careful of betting too heavily on hyped fighters - and Kabayel is certainly that, whether there's a good reason to be or not!

 

If he wins, he definitely is up there:

1. Usyk
2. Dubois va Parker winner
3. Kabayel vs Zhang winner

 

Zhang's gas tank is awful, but Kabayel is one of the most overrated fighters on here right now - his resume is really remarkably thin for how highly rated he is on here.

 

Either Kabayel out boxes Zhang or Zhang catches him and takes him out. It really depends how good Kayabels chin is. Parker/Zhang could have been a decisive victory for Zhang had Parker not possessed a really good chin and been able to get up both times he was dropped.

This is an interesting fight where on paper its competitive but will probably end in a decisive victory for whoever wins.

 

Zhang has fought and beat better opponents than Kabayel has. He’s more battle tested. He has savage power and can knockout anyone he’s in the ring with. We know nothing about Kabayel’s Chin. If Zhang is around 270 this fight will be very interesting. If he’s over that then Kabayel likely can survive as long as he makes it out of the first 4 or 5 rounds.

 

AJ is a Glass Jawed Fighter. That much we know. Zhang is a very bad matchup for AJ based on that alone.

 

I think it will be similar to Zhang V Parker, I think Kabayel will get knocked down at some point, but still win the fight on points. I think Kabayel will be quite cautious and respectful of Zhang at times.

 

I wouldn't say he's glass jawed, but he doesn't have the best chin, correct. He dropped and beat Zhang in the Olympics tho, he knows him, doubt he would be scared to go into the ring with him. He was considering fighting him and some brainless AJ haters that were saying he was cherry picking back then, now say he ducked him. Comical.

 

Urgh, I hate having to defend Joshua... But I've always disliked this narrative.

Do we?

AJ's fought plenty of heavy hitters, taken some pretty big punches and Dubois is the only one that's properly knocked him out... And TBF, Dubois is certainly not lacking in power.

Zhang most definitely hits hard, and if he connects then that would absolutely ask big questions of almost any chin - if Joshua was to take the theoretical fight and try to play it aggressively then it would have a good chance of ending badly... Equally, if AJ fought on his bike (which we know he can, like Ruiz2, even if he's too proud/stupid to do it more often) then Zhang would gas in no time and it'd be a very, very wide points win.


Glass jawed fighters don't get past guys like Wlad, Povetkin, Whyte, etc with their senses intact... They don't get up from big punches from the likes of Wlad and Dubois and keep on fighting.

This idea of Joshua as a glass jawed bum has been the stock in trade of desperate Wilder and Fury fans trying to talk down the rest of the division to make their boys look better and it's just nonsense - if any of the three had anything close to a glass jaw, it was Wilder, who avoided punchers for most of his career and got stopped by Fury who's never been the most powerful (even then, he's taken some reasonable punches from the likes of Ortiz etc and stayed conscious, referee help notwithstanding).

 

AJ is cringe

 

I cringe more when I listen to Fury and Wilder to be honest, but AJ does come off as cringy at times.

 

The old man with medical problems is not going to stand against that hook to the body.

 

Throwing left hooks to the body will leave Kabayel open to Zhang's counter right hook.

 

Yes, but if you remember, Zhang has some problems with his liver, or kidneys, or whatever it was. I don't think it will take too many of those body shots to make him quit.

But no argument. Agit's chin will be tested.