Zhilei Zhang vs. Joseph Obey Joyce II & Pierce O'Leary vs. Kane Gardner RBR.

Hrgovic has a better chin than Joyce and is a far better boxer.

 

Zhang seems like a good dude.

 

Joyce made same mistake as Kownacki choosing Helenius.
Why You choose soo strong hit guys if You are above them in rankings and Your hallmarks is block all shoots with head.

 

Easy KO1 win for Zhang. Difference in skills and boxing IQ between Zhang and Makhmudov is insane, his chin is far more proven, and yes, I think he hits harder than Makhmudov too

 

that was a spectacular right hand....the sound it made.....Zhang knew immediately that was the end.

 

Y'know, this may be recency bias talking or just the fact that he's been one of the more active guys in a dead division, but between the two convincing wins against someone who was a consensus top 5 guy, the inactivity of Wilder and the somewhat lacking performances AJ has had... I think Zhang might have a solid argument for being the number 3 guy at heavy right now.

 

He's already taken plenty of prolonged clubbings. Even in the fight against Parker he took a good amount of flush shots, obviously not the most powerful shots in the world but it all adds up.

 

People start questioning Joyce's chin, but I doubt any heavyweight, past or present can take that shot from a 280 lb puncher.

 

I definitely thought of Kownacki here too. Another 'Juggernaut' style of blocking punches with face and piling on pressure with high volume. But the chin inevitably cracks, these guys lose confidence and durability, they're unable to adapt, and show's basically over.

 

I agree, I don't think Joe's weight gain was the answer as a strategy, his weakness has always being hit too much, he got away with it previously generally being the the bigger guy with the better gas tank. Zhang is more of a sprinter compared to Joyce and Joyce was unable to avoid that early onslaught on both occasions. An issue is age and being able to rebuild significantly, at this point I don't think he can adapt.
Respect to Joe jumping back in after getting beaten, that takes balls. Respect to Zhang for a great performance and final punch, that would have sent 99% to the shadow realm.

 

And he is much quicker and more dynamics boxer. His punches got more power soo Zhang cant do whatever he want.
Filip got big problems bit he was able to survive hard moments and he outboxed Zhang in 9 of 12 rounds.

 

His game plan was ****ed, all of a sudden he’s trying to be Floyd Mayweather being all defensive.