Wladimir Klitschko vs Joe Joyce/Filip Hrgovic/Zhilei Zhang

The best Wlad beats all 3 comfortably more often than not.

 

Comfortably ? Not sure about that.

Hrgovic and Joyce ? Yeah I can see that.

But Zhang is a very heavy handed dangerous Southpaw who has pretty much dropped every notable opponent he's been in the ring with.

Zhang would be very dangerous to Wladimir in the first 6 rounds.

Yeah I know Kabayel beat Zhang convincingly but he landed over 100 body punches and was overly aggressive.

Wladimir isn't going to be fighting Zhang like that he's going to be fighting at range giving him opportunities to land a counter punch.

Parker did a decent job at fighting Zhang in a slow paced tactical fight but even he was dropped twice.

I dont see Zhang as an easy stylistic match up for Wladimir at all.

He's also as big as Wladimir and Wladimir wouldn't have a size advantage over him.

 

Whilst Zhang has more than enough power to stop Wlad, yes, more often than not Wlad beats him comfortably, imo. Let's face it, if Wlad doesn’t beat Zhang comfortably, he probably doesn’t beat him at all. Wlad isn't winning a battle of attrition against Zhang. He either wins a one sided late stoppage, a shut out on the cards or doesn’t win.

Prime Wlad's footwork and distance control was better than Zhang's to an extent that it's difficult to describe. Whilst dangerous due to his power and half decent hand speed for his size, I think Zhang's low output (lowest output of all time amongst world level HWs, I believe), feet stuck in the mud, style, is tailor made for the cautious Wlad to jab and move and avoid getting hit clean with a power shot.

Zhang plants his feet, which he seldom moves, and then punches. Stewart trained Wlad's footwork is way too good for that, though, of course, one lapse in concentration is all it would take.

 

Perfect response.

Although I do think that Zhang has the best chance of those 3. He's a pretty sneaky boxer, and combines blockbuster power with an educated attack. Out of those 3 he's the guy most likely to land the big one.

 

On flipside did Wladimir ever beat a fighter as big as him with real KO power ?

Wladimir had better footwork and controlled distance better yes but not against a fighter as big as Zhang.

And we all see what happened to Wladimir against another big punching Southpaw it didn't end well.

 

I think Hrgovic's chances are getting a little underrated compared to Zhang's.

He like 6'4.5 and has a good chin and high workrate. Not the power of Zhang and Joyce though.

 

Big Bang is an absolute nightmare for Wlad. Bigger and better than Thompson. Hits hard enough to canvas K with one punch.

 

I'd argue Wach fills that criterion. However, Wach was not as skilled or as fast as Zhang.

 

I think Zhang is simultaneously the most likely of the three to beat Wlad and the most likely to get absolutely schooled.

Zhang is huge and powerful, yet his feet are so slow and his output so low, Wlad would either get sloppy and KO'd or win an immensely one sided fight. I think the latter is more likely, whilst acknowledging the possibility of the former.

 

I made a edit. In comparsion to Zhang I meant.

 

I mean I can buy that too. If Wlad can read his attack and control him, then Zhang's low output is going to see him get a galactic beating.

 

All three lose by UD and suffer severe punishment in the process...

 

They all get a beating. Zhang is way too slow.