Few expect Deontay Wilder to beat Zhang Zhilei in their heavyweight bout this Saturday night, June 1st.
Wilder's recent struggles
Former WBC champion Wilder (43-3-1, 42 KOs) has had so many poor performances over the past four years that fans, media and fighters did not expect him to beat Zhang (26-2-1, 21 KOs).
Deontay seems to overthink it and doesn't seem to have the confidence to take a shot unless he's sure he won't be countered.
Wilder vs. Zhang will be a 12-round bout in a five-on-five event held at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and will be broadcast live on DAZN PPV.
Deontay still has the speed and power advantage to knock out anyone in his weight class, including Zhang, but has seemed afraid to throw punches since his knockout loss to Tyson Fury in 2020.
Wilder just isn't landing enough punches to improve his chances of winning, as he showed in his last fight against Joseph Parker in December.
Parker didn't do anything special, just got hit when Wilder came at him, and didn't look mentally prepared for the fight.
Zhang was in almost as bad form in his loss to Parker last March, knocking Parker to the canvas but running out of steam after the third round and barely landing a punch in the final ninth.
Expert predictions: Opinions are divided
“It's an interesting fight. There are a few scenarios that could happen. If Wilder goes about the fight the way I expect him to, I would have a slight edge in favor of Zhang,” Ben Davison told Boxing News about Saturday's bout between former WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder and Zhang Jie Lei.
Davison feels Wilder will fight aggressively, which will leave him vulnerable to Zhang's hard counter punches. If Wilder had a stronger chin, he might be able to withstand some of the punches, but his glass chin won't hold up.
“Jean Zilei won't be as easy to find as Parker and he still has that freak power, so it's easy to say Wilder has the advantage, but Jean is also a hard puncher,” said Matthew Macklin.
“He's in better shape than Wilder and he's more aggressive, so they're both hard punchers. It's hard to say who will win.”
Zhang has two knockout wins over Joe Joyce but ran out of steam in his last fight against Parker, so if Wilder can out-pound Zhang in six rounds, he could be the one to break it late in the fight.
“They've both suffered losses and they both have great power,” said Richie Woodhall. “Is this the last big fight for Wilder? I'd like to think so, but we know what Chan is capable of and he'll probably win.”
“I think Wilder will be a lot better than he was last time. His performance last time was really poor,” Fraser Clarke said.
