Zhilei Zhang and Deontay Wilder will step into the ring on Saturday night knowing that for one of them this could be their last curtain call.
Zhang and Wilder are both coming off upset defeats to Joseph Parker, and at 41 and 38-years-old respectively, another loss this weekend for either man will almost certainly signal the end of their career at the highest level – with ‘The Bronze Bomber’ admitting he may hang up the gloves if he doesn’t get the victory.
Speaking on his ‘PoterWay Podcast, former two-time welterweight world champion, Shawn Porter, is picking Zhang to get the knockout.
“I think Zhilei Zhang wins this fight. He’s just clearly the better boxer, he just understands the distance and range phenomenally. I hated seeing him lose his last fight, it was a close fight, a really good fight against Parker but he ended up losing it, but proved he’s still got a lot left in the tank.
On the other side you’ve got Wilder and I understand why the hesitancy against Parker because Parker was so mobile, but there were still moments where he could let it go and we saw him throwing over the top, those are signs of hesitancy, signs of uncertainty, that he’s not sure of himself an I think we’ll see that again. He’s got to do what he did against Luis Ortiz which is at some point find it and throw it. If he doesn’t do that at some point against Zhang I think that will solidify the fact he can’t do that any more, if he can’t do that any more then he can’t be successful in this era.
I’ve got Zhang by knockout.”
Zhang-Wilder takes place on June 1 in Saudi Arabia and headlines a card that pits 5 fighters from Queensberry against 5 from Matchroom’s roster. The event will be shown live on DAZN PPV.
