Yeah like Joyce didn’t beat the living dog **** outta Parker and Whyte didn’t beat him up either right?
Eh, at this point, Wilder is too old to run it back repeatedly every time he picks up an L, I think he should move on, and what better way to erase his loss to Parker in people's minds than to beat the guy that KO'd Joyce twice who absolutely wrecked Parker. Parker is a wily veteran with a pain in the ass style, no one cared about the first fight, certainly no one wants to see a rerun of it either. Zhang is seen as a division boogeyman a victory over him is worth a hell of a lot more.
Wilder doesn't see anything. His team does. I wouldn't be surprised if Wilder didn't know what "southpaw" meant.
Parker just had levels on him, and a style Wilder couldn't handle. Zhang has good signature wins with Joyce, but a 50/50 with Hrgovic aside hasn't done all that much as a pro... I couldn't claim to be consistent and objective if I panned Ortiz, rightly, as having a paper thin resume with an overhyped signature win if I were to ignore the parallels with Zhang. That said, it's clearly a matter of objective fact that Zhang hits much harder than Ortiz, and that he's a couple of inches bigger in both height and reach... And the better amateur career of the two by some way. Put it all together and it'd still be Wilder's best win (albeit for me a clear step below Parker in provenness). The question is, is Wilder as declined as his apologists think? I'm not convinced, but he's at an age where it's possible that he's past his best. And even if he's not, can he beat a bigger and heavier handed version of the man who was a referees interruption away from being the first to TKO him?
If he does hats off to him. He gets stopped brutally though. Guy has 80lbs on him, fast hands and a chin.
Whyte/Parker would have been a draw had the BS headclash knockdown not been called and Whyte was out on his feet and saved by the bell in the 12th round. Not exactly what I would call "beating someone up"