Zhilei Zhang and Deontay Wilder face off in a heavyweight battle that has no belts but high stakes, a fan-friendly fight that almost certainly won’t need the judges.
With both men coming off decision losses to Joseph Parker, he enjoys a step forward whilst, at 41 and 38, Zhang and Wilder can’t afford many more losses.
Add to the intrigue that the pair have over 60 stoppages between them and it becomes a heavyweight episode as intriguing as any.
With the knowledge of the Parker bouts fresh in mind, Johnny Nelson is backing ‘Big Bang’ to beat the American former champion. He told Seconds Out that he backs Zhang to survive a scare on his way to victory.
“That’s a tough one, because if you’re going on past performances you’d say Zhilei Zhang. I would still lean towards Zhang even though he’s there to be hit, he can take a shot, but I know Deontay Wilder… I’ve never seen anybody hit so hard. So I wonder what Zhang will be like once he gets hit, because he will get hit by Wilder.
“I’m going Zhang. I just think we’ve seen the best of Wilder, maybe [the Parker fight] was just a bad night, but I think we’ve seen the best of him. So I’m going Zhang. That’s one-nil to Frank Warren.”
Zhang knocked Parker down twice in their bout but faded heavily in the second half. Wilder was never really in the fight, always dangerous but unusually gun-shy.
The pair face off on June 1 in Saudi Arabia as part of Frank Warren and Eddie Hearn‘s 5 vs 5 tournament concept.
