Podcast host Teddy Alas is picking heavyweight Zhilei Zhang to defeat Deontay Wilder this Saturday night in their career crossroads contest in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Atlas Doubts Wilder’s Delivery System
Atlas feels that both guys are at a stage in their careers where they’re starting to show their age, and he feels that the 38-year-old former WBC champion Wilder (43-3-1, 42 KOs) is lacking the delivery system to fire his right-hand missile like he used to.
For this fight, Wilder must be able to land his right hand to have a shot at beating Zhang (26-2-1, 21 KOs), and Atlas doesn’t see him being able to do that. Atlas points out that Wilder’s legs weren’t under him in his last fight against Joseph Parker, and his accuracy was gone. Wilder was missing with his shots and falling in to grab and hold.
We’ve seen that with many fighters. When they get older, their accuracy disappears, and they become gunshy because they have no faith that they can land their shots, and they’re afraid to get countered once they miss.
“Wilder’s delivery system against Parker didn’t look up to operating standards. He was not set to deliver that bomb,” said boxing expert Teddy Atlas on his YouTube channel, talking about Deontay Wilder’s recent loss going into Saturday’s fight against Zhilei Zhang.
“He was throwing one or two punches that were not accurate, and a lot of grabbing and falling in,” Atlas continued about Wilder. “Again, not balanced, not set. One of his assets is that he’s got a long reach and good height. He should set himself on the outside to be set to catch his opponents on the outside.”
Wilder’s delivery system wasn’t just off in his recent defeat against Joseph Parker last December. He had the same problem in his second and third fights against Tyson Fury in 2020 and 2021. Wilder was frequently in those two defeats, looking wildly erratic as if his hand-eye coordination wasn’t there in either fight.
Deontay was in his mid-30s when he fought Fury the last two times. He didn’t look like the same fighter who had knocked him out cold in the twelfth round in their first contest in 2018. He was arguably robbed of a KO when the referee gave the Gyspy King a count while he was unconscious on the canvas.
One Punch Can Change Everything
“I’m going to take Zhang, but with trepidation because one punch changes everything,” said Atlas. “Zhang is a southpaw, and what is the southpaw killer? The right hand and Wilder has got the right hand. It’s a career fight for both guys.”
If Wilder can land his right-hand flush, he’s got a chance of knocking out Zhang, but he might need to land it more than once to get the job done. I don’t think he can do it. Against Parker, Wilder missed all night with his right, stopped throwing it, and was moving around the ring like he had no confidence in himself.
Wilder knows now that he can’t afford to fight that way against Zhang because he recognizes his career is on the line, so he’ll be more willing to throw his power shots and hope for the best.
“Neither guy is a spring chicken. They’re showing their age a little bit. Where they’re showing their age is with endurance, offensive consistency, or lack of. With Zhang against Parker, he tired down the stretch,” said Atlas.
“He had hurt Parker early in the fight, but he wasn’t able to consistently maintain his offense. Part of that is because of conditioning. He’s a big guy. It’s hard for guys like that to get into superior condition, but I think it’s connected to age as well,” said Atlas about the 41-year-old Zhang.
Zhilei gassed early in the fight against Parker, and had almost nothing left after the fifth round. Although Zhang did drop Parker in the eighth, it was a lucky shot, because he wasn’t throwing barely any punches by that point in the fight.
“His age is part of the reason why he’s not able to keep his motor running at the velocity that he would want to,” said Atlas about Zhang.
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