Deontay Wilder vs. Zhilei Zhang fight predictions, start time, odds, preview, undercard, expert picks

When Deontay Wilder and Zhilei Zhang meet in the ring in Saudi Arabia on Saturday, they will do so knowing it could be do-or-die for their championship hopes. Two of the heavyweight division’s most powerful punchers, Wilder and Zhang, both enter their fight off the back of a loss in their most recent outing, knocking them down the ladder in boxing’s glamor division.

In an interesting twist, both Wilder and Zhang’s most recent defeat came at the hands of Joseph Parker, who entered the ring as an underdog in both fights. Parker now sits above both men in the heavyweight division, which is on a boom following Oleksandr Usyk’s recent win over Tyson Fury to become the division’s first undisputed champion with four belts.

Wilder is hoping to earn a shot at one of those championships, having previously held the WBC championship from 2015 to 2020 after suffering a knockout loss to Fury.

Wilder ranks among the heaviest fighters in boxing history, recording 41 knockouts in his 42 career victories. That power failed to put Fury away in their three fights, where Wilder managed a split draw before being stopped twice. The Parker fight raised new concerns for Wilder as he didn’t fight aggressively, threw very few punches and generally seemed uninterested in the fight en route to losing by scores of 118-111, 118-110 and 120-108 .

“I’m very confident in what I said,” Wilder said at his final press conference this week. “I’m really excited to be working with Eddie, we haven’t had the best of relationships in the past but the thing about time is that time brings change and I’ve been part of the change. During this time period. , we’re like a warrior drum with a beat and a sound, and on the left side (with his four teammates in the 5 x 5 event) you can feel this energy that we’re not playing We’re winning and we’re coming to eliminate those five to five, we’re going to a five-man sweep and I’m looking forward to Saturday.

That same level of passivity and lack of fire could spell disaster for Wilder against a fighter like Zhang, who has plenty of pop and likes to let his hands go early in fights. In 26 career wins, Zhang has stopped 21 opponents.

After going undefeated in his first 25 professional bouts, Zhang finally tasted defeat when he lost a somewhat controversial decision to Filip Hrgovic in August 2022. Zhang took advantage of this loss by knocking out Joe Joyce to won the interim WBO title, retaining the belt with another loss. knockout in the rematch.

Zhang’s fight with Parker also exposed some of Zhang’s flaws, most notably his tendency to run out of steam at various points in the fight. Multiple fights have shown Zhang fading in the later rounds, creating an interesting contrast between his tendency for early aggression to fade late and Wilder’s recent inability to pull the trigger.

There are several other notable fights on the card, including another heavyweight showdown when Filip Hrgovic takes on Daniel Dubois for the vacant IBF interim championship. Hrgovic has long been the IBF’s mandatory challenger and was under the impression that the fight with Dubois would be for the IBF world title after the sanctioning body said it would remove the winner of Usyk vs. defend against Hrgovic.

Instead, the IBF is taking its time to consider whether to grant Usyk an exemption for the Fury rematch. If they continue to strip Usyk, the winner of Hrgovic vs. Dubois would probably be elevated to the title of world champion. That led to some confusion this week when Hrgovic was asked if he knew if the title would be on the line on Saturday.

“What do you mean it’s not? It should be,” Hrgovic said. “Should be for the belt, man. What are you talking about? It is. Yes. That’s what I heard. I mean, that was the plan from the beginning, so what’s changed now? Who said? You. I don’t know, man, I expect it’s for the title, I don’t know.

WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitrii Bivol was originally scheduled to headline the card against IBF, WBO and WBC champion Artur Beterbiev in a fight to crown an undisputed champion. After Beterbiev was forced out of the fight due to injury, Bivol elected to remain on the card and will defend his title against undefeated Malik Zinad.

Let’s take a look at the rest of the game card with the latest odds before we get to a prediction and expert pick for the main event.

Wilder vs. Fight Book Zhang, quotes

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Fights are rarely more predictable than Wilver vs. Zhang. That’s because we simply don’t know which version of Wilder will emerge. Wilder has better speed and better power than Zhang, but that means nothing if Wilder approaches this fight the same way he did against Parker. Zhang threw the least at Parker and scored two punches that kept the final scores close, while Wilder threw just 17 punches per round and landed 39 throughout the fight.

If Wilder is ready to go and has truly found his desire again, it’s a pretty easy choice to do what he’s always done and knock Zhang out with an explosive jab. If Wilder doesn’t have that fire, Zhang will apply the pressure early and rack up the rounds to build a comfortable lead. But will that lead last if his tank runs dry and he becomes an open target for a wilder right hand?

It’s all conjecture at this point, but it continues to stand out that Wilder admitted he struggled to pull the trigger against Parker, and that’s usually not a good sign in the later stages of a fighter’s career. Choice: Zhilei Zhang via UD