We may see the last fight from Bronze bomber this weekend

[Pac=Duran]

And to answer TS: it's over for him. He's getting smoked by Zhang, who is hard as nails and has a crazy left hand.

No way Nolder will ever win a decision with his no-skills no-stamina style

[Willow The Wisp]

I've carefully read each post in this thread.
It's a late career contest between two of the best Heavyweights of their era, in the twilight of their career. Both remain highly ranked and very dangerous.


Zhang, an Olympic medalist, might have been better utilized by a cohesive sport for enlivening the sport in post revolutionary China, had he not been jobbed against far less interesting fighters like Hrgovic and Parker. He may might yet earn another big run here.
Zhang is a gentleman, and a fantastic embassador of boxing to China, and of China to the world.


Wilder has been the Sonny Liston, George Foreman or Mike Tyson of his era. Top ten ranked by the Ring Magazine for 11 years straight, longer than any other active heavyweight. I respect him quite a lot too.


He never once quit while standing (Joshua), got caught for PEDs/nandrolone (Fury), came in being out of fighting condition (Ruiz), got laid out by a massive underdog while in his prime (Lewis, Klitschko), or groveled on the floor appealing to a referee to save him (Usyk), and in my book, that counts for something.

An Olympic medalist and earning more successful defences of his world title than all other title claimants since the days of Muhammad Ali, with the exception of only 4:

Larry Holmes.............20
Wladimir Klitschko....18
Lennox Lewis............14
Vitali Klitschko..........11
Deontay Wilder..........10
Mike Tyson................10
Tyson Fury.................9
Evander Holyfield......7
Anthoney Joshua......7
George Foreman........5
Chris Byrd...................4
John Ruiz...................4
Nikolai Valuev............4
Alexander Povetkin...4
Michael Spinks..........3
Rid**** Bowe.............3
Ruslan Chagaev.........3
Mike Weaver..............2
Michael Moorer.........2
David Haye................2
Joseph Parker...........2
Pinklon Thomas........1
Olver McCall...............1
Bruce Seldon..............1
Hasim Rahman..........1
Oleg Maskaev............1
Sultan Ibragimov.......1
Oleksandr Usyk..........1
Ken Norton.................0
John Tate...................0
Gerrie Coetzee...........0
Greg Page..................0
Tony Tubbs................0
Tim Witherspoon.......0
Trevor Berbick............0
Bonecrusher Smith....0
Tony Tucker................0
Buster Douglas..........0
Frank Bruno...............0
Roy Jones Jr.............0
Charles Martin..........0
Lucas Browne...........0
Andy Ruiz Jr..............0

The man couldn't box real sweet?
Ya?
And Babe Ruth couldn't sing.

I respect them both.

I don't have a clue how this one will go; but it's goung to feature some bombs.

[daggum]

When GGG was doing it all you cared about was the rank of the opponent.

Ggg beat 12 top 10 opponents to Wilders 2. Wilders opponents weren't ranked by the ring or anyone credible. Gggs were. Hence why ggg deserves more respect, is better, etc...

[daggum]

I've carefully read each post in this thread.
It's a late career contest between two of the best Heavyweights of their era, in the twilight of their career. Both remain highly ranked and very dangerous.


Zhang, an Olympic medalist, might have been better utilized by a cohesive sport for enlivening the sport in post revolutionary China, had he not been jobbed against far less interesting fighters like Hrgovic and Parker. He may might yet earn another big run here.
Zhang is a gentleman, and a fantastic embassador of boxing to China, and of China to the world.


Wilder has been the Sonny Liston, George Foreman or Mike Tyson of his era. Top ten ranked by the Ring ****zine for 11 years straight, longer than any other active heavyweight. I respect him quite a lot too.


He never once quit while standing (Joshua), got caught for PEDs/nandrolone (Fury), came in being out of fighting condition (Ruiz), got laid out by a massive underdog while in his prime (Lewis, Klitschko), or groveled on the floor appealing to a referee to save him (Usyk), and in my book, that counts for something.

An Olympic medalist and earning more successful defences of his world title than all other title claimants since the days of Muhammad Ali, with the exception of only 4:

Larry Holmes.............20
Wladimir Klitschko....18
Lennox Lewis............14
Vitali Klitschko..........11
Deontay Wilder..........10
Mike Tyson................10
Tyson Fury.................9
Evander Holyfield......7
Anthoney Joshua......7
George Foreman........5
Chris Byrd...................4
John Ruiz...................4
Nikolai Valuev............4
Alexander Povetkin...4
Michael Spinks..........3
Rid**** Bowe.............3
Ruslan Chagaev.........3
Mike Weaver..............2
Michael Moorer.........2
David Haye................2
Joseph Parker...........2
Pinklon Thomas........1
Olver McCall...............1
Bruce Seldon..............1
Hasim Rahman..........1
Oleg Maskaev............1
Sultan Ibragimov.......1
Oleksandr Usyk..........1
Ken Norton.................0
John Tate...................0
Gerrie Coetzee...........0
Greg Page..................0
Tony Tubbs................0
Tim Witherspoon.......0
Trevor Berbick............0
Bonecrusher Smith....0
Tony Tucker................0
Buster Douglas..........0
Frank Bruno...............0
Roy Jones Jr.............0
Charles Martin..........0
Lucas Browne...........0
Andy Ruiz Jr..............0

The man couldn't box real sweet?
Ya?
And Babe Ruth couldn't sing.

I respect them both.

I don't have a clue how this one will go; but it's goung to feature some bombs.

He's been ranked top 10 for 11 years and has had 10 title defenses yet he's only beaten 2 top 10 ranked opponents his entire career...which is really the thing you should be focusing on, but when you don't have quality you gotta go for quantity I suppose. Irrelevant quantity. Andy ruiz has 0 title defenses but his resume is a billion times better. Parker has 2 and his resume is a billion times better. This should tell you that title defenses don't mean much if anything especially if those title defenses are against nobodies which they were.

[daggum]

He didn’t waste his career, he has made generational wealth.

That's great for him. I dont care. I would have probably done the same thing cherry picking my fights and raking in the cash, but I'm a coward so...

[Willow The Wisp]

He's been ranked top 10 for 11 years and has had 10 title defenses yet he's only beaten 2 top 10 ranked opponents his entire career...which is really the thing you should be focusing on, but when you don't have quality you gotta go for quantity I suppose. Irrelevant quantity. Andy ruiz has 0 title defenses but his resume is a billion times better. Parker has 2 and his resume is a billion times better. This should tell you that title defenses don't mean much if anything especially if those title defenses are against nobodies which they were.

Bunk. BS. That tired old fanboy Myth.
Joshua, from a resume perspective, fought top competitors Whyte, (Ancient) Klitschko, Martin, Molina, Breazeale, Takam, Parker, (old) Povetkin & (old) Pulev, Ruiz twice, Usyk twice, Helenius and Wallen; a very respectible body of work. Best in the era.
But he suffered 3 rather humiliating defeats during the process, essentially quitting in one loss, while in his prime.


Fury fought top competitors Chisora x3 (3rd time an old version), Klitschko (while he was champion), Wilder x 3 (first time a draw), Schwarz, Wallin, Whyte and Usyk, suffering just the one loss, in a 1 point decision.
Again, a fairly decent body of work, all told.


Usyk, after beating 6 pretty excellent Cruiserweights, fought heavyweight top competitors (old) Chisora, Joshua twice, Dubois and Fury.
In this, he is the last top heavyweight of this era who has yet to loose.


Wilder, while fulfilling his obligations to his title belt sanctioning body kept up with all his manditories, and fought top competitors Stiverne x 2, Molina, Duhaupas, Szpilka, Arreola, Ortiz x 2, Breazeale, Fury x 3, Helenius and Parker, and the only man he didn't manage at least a draw with, only decisioned him because he'd been off for two whole years.

Two KOs over an undefeated Ortiz (first fight) and 3 times in with Fury, in two classics.
Next, as he nears 40, he's in with old but well preserved Zhang, who's been in no wars yet!


Are their respective bodies of work very different?
Not much, actually; and not nearly enough to offset the character differences and bone shattering knockouts noted in my prior post.

Cherry picking and bums?
Not really.
That's nonsense, looking without agenda at the facts available to everyone.


So what drives the myth? The wilful ignorance?
Racisim? America strength & wealth envy? Fanboyisim?

Lol...who cares?

[IceTrayDaGang]

I'm thinking Zhang eats most of Wilder's best punches. Wilder needs to survive till the 7th for a chance. I see Zhang stopping him before then.

wilder is pretty heavy handed...zhang needs to fight smart. i can see wilder knocking zhang out and the same goes for wilder. zhang can also knock wilder out. whoever is the smarter fighter will win this.

[Pac=Duran]

I just watched Zhang vs Hrgovic.

Wilder is totally ****ed. Hrgovic's power is real. Can't see any way Wilder will beat Zhang.

Could be an early night.

[Sparked_26]

It would comfortably be the best win of Wilder's career if he did it.

He's a had a great career Wilder. He was an extremely exciting heavy in what was a limited era. It is a shame some fights were left on the table.

I'd be happy for him if he won because it puts those potential nights up in lights again.

Zhang is slower and will be hit is the question mark but I just can't see this fight end in anything but a big Zhang KO win and then Wilder needs to get out of the game with the vultures circling.

Would love to be wrong.

[PRvazquez]

Wilder is great for boxing. Brings no negativity to the game. Fights his heart out. Took some Ls. Put a lot of fighters to sleep. Still taking guys on at his age. Wilder haters on boxing scene are like I said, Fury fans who make up lies to make themselves feel better, that wilder put Fury on his ass 4 times. Honestly 1st fight was a legit KO against Fury. Hidden racial innuendoes