Zhilei Zhang expects Joseph Parker’s team to have studied his past fights to pick out flaws in his game that they can exploit on Friday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
WBO interim heavyweight champion Zhang (26-1-1, 21 KOs) believes Parker 34-3, 23 KOs) will attempt to take the fight into the later rounds to try and exploit his stamina to win on points.
Zhang says that if the fight is taken into the later rounds, he’ll still come out victorious. Parker has made it clear that he’s going to be using movement in a hit and run style to keep Zhang from connecting on his big shots like he did in his last two fights against Joe Joyce.
Zhang’s Confidence
“I believe that’s possible. Their team will study my fights, and study the Hrgovic fight and study the Jerry Forrest fight. They believe going into the second half of the fight, my conditioning will go down, and they will have the leverage to beat me on points,” said Zhilei Zhang to Queensberry about his fight this Friday against Joseph Parker.
Zhang had problems with his stamina in the Forrest and Filip Hrgovic fights, running out of gas in the championship rounds. If he gasses against Parker, he could be in trouble in the later rounds.
“Even if that happens, I’ll beat him in deep water. I prefer to do it with Chinese speed. I don’t have the opportunity to go against the top two [Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Uzyk] yet, but when that day comes, I’ll be beating them.
“Hey, Joe. I’m ‘Big Bang.’ I will bang everything. I will bang you,” said Zhang.
“It was a great fight, a great win and it was good to go in and leave Riyadh with a great win heading into New Years and Christmas,” said Parker to Boxnation about his win over Deontay Wilder.
Evolution and Adaptation
“I was very impressed. Zhang went in and dominated the first fight, and went into the second and got a very nice knockout victory,” said Parker about Zhang’s two stoppage wins over Joe Joyce.
“If you look at my fight with Joe Joyce to the fighter I am now, I’m a totally different fighter physically and mentally. I know Zhang is smart enough not to look at that fight, and is looking at more recent fights,” said Parker.
