Zhang Doesn't Beat ATG's Because He Beat Joe Frigging Joyce.....

I reckon this makes Hrgovic the GOAT heavyweight.

 

I honestly thought, that all the "Zhang v .." threads were hype pranks. Like, are they!! I'm new here, is the hype train fully legit after a win!

Anyway, Zhang deserves the credit for now. But let's wait until he fights the guys above him., to judge his worth. Also, I don't believe any of the current heavyweights are ATG yet (*Usyk is CW ATG). They gotta fight each other first!

 

I think like people are too fast to translate relatively dominant position in the division, to dominance in historical sense. There are levels to this game, and there is a good chance we will see Zhang outboxed against by a proper man, like Hrgovic already did.

He is fascinating, with an almost mythical style of a nearly 300 pounds, low-quantity-high-impact counters, but he is by no means complete. There are holes to be exploited against Zhilei Zhang. I wouldn't bet comfortable betting on him against the likes of Hunter, Sanchez, or Usyk in particular. Against Bakole, Makhmudov, Joshua, or Ruiz? I'd bet my soul on him winning.

 

If Zhang can beat an Usyk Fury Wilder Joshua then we can start talking,until the then he’s just beaten Joyce a painfully slow predictable plodder whose chin and confidence has deserted him. Joyce was eating bombs during his fight with Parker and I just thought then this is uncanny and Joyce can’t keep fighting like this,surely at some point something has to give,then next along came Zhang !

 

Agree DP - there is often too much premature, knee jerk praise and anointing of greatness based on just one fight.

Such reactions have happened in varying degrees over many prior years - perhaps it’s simply more acute and unreasonable now due to the fact that HWs aren’t really fighting a lot these days, with low numbers under their belt.

That then causes much chatter (talking up or even talking down fighters) to fill the increasing voids in HW activity. With more activity, there’d be less chatter and more actual observation to see what these guys have really got against varied opposition.

Did Joyce only get the credit for his chin after the Parker fight? I’m not sure.

At any rate, I think Joyce’s chin has proven to be noteworthy - but in providing that proof he has been getting hit far too much - and there’s a chance that his chin maybe not even be what it used to be before the first bout vs Zhang.

I also think Zhang’s power has been fairly rated - he certainly can thump but poor Joe Joyce was right there to be hit - a number of other contenders won’t be as accomodating - but I really like Zhang’s hand speed, accuracy and set ups.

Keeps it simple but does it right and therefore he’s highly effective. His chin isn’t absolute iron but he seems he can take a decent shot. The best proof (old school proof - lol) will reside in seeing him actually face other upper echelon contenders - but for sure, he ain’t getting any younger so, next time around, he might not even be the quantity we just saw against Joyce.

Atm, sans heavy analytics, he’s certainly fun and exciting to watch. And, he’s NO Dosser.

 

Please insert that post into every rediculously over the top Zhang thread.

 

Honestly, it happens after almost every big fight. Whoever wins, the forum is immediately flooded with posts saying they would beat every ATG in their division.

 

Exactly right. Mainly kids who have followed the sport for about 5 minutes l suspect. But it keeps the place amusing.

 

As usual, the truth lies somewhere in between - Joyce was (significantly) overhyped, but he does have a solid chin and that alone allowed him to just walk through plenty of fighters.

Joe's a fringe contender, and he takes respectable fights more often than not... there's a lot to like, he might be slow but you know both guys are getting hit and it's usually a question of which one survives - this time it wasn't Joe.

You have to give him credit where it's due, he's got a better resume than other hypejobs like Ortiz and more balls to take tough fights than Fury and Wilder... he's not a protected fighter, and that's how things should be.

This ATG H2H nightmare Zhang stuff is just cringey.

 

Lol! if you thought Joyce was an unstoppable force you're probably thinking Zhang is the greatest of all time.