Former WBO interim heavyweight champion Zhilei Zhang says he’s coming to knock out Deontay Wilder on June 1st in their 12-round contest in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Wilder’s Struggles and the “Last Stand”
The fight is seen as the last chance saloon for the struggling former WBC heavyweight champion ‘Bronze Bomber’ Wilder (43-3-1, 42 KOs), who comes into the match with Zhang (26-2-1, 21 KOs) having lost three out of his last four fights, and is calling this fight his “last stand.” Wilder makes it clear that if he loses, he’ll retire.
Wilder is now with Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn, who made him his team captain for his 5v5 squad, and he’s hoping to rebuild him mentally to instill self-confidence that was sorely missing in his loss to Joseph Parker last December.
In Deontay’s one-sided 12-round unanimous decision loss to Parker, he barely threw any punches and was on the move the entire fight, treating the New Zealander like he was a knockout artist rather than a down-and-out fighter, who had largely scrubs since his defeat against Dillian Whyte in 2018.
Zhang’s Prediction
“I will be his last dance partner. I don’t know if he will see the end of the dance, but I will make sure he enjoys it,” said Zhilei Zhang to the Charlie Parson YouTube channel talking about his fight against Deontay Wilder on June 1st in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
“Me and Deontay are both big punchers. When Chinese power vs. Alabama power, we’re going to bang the heck out of each other. Don’t blink, everything happens in one punch.”
Many fans believe that Wilder is mentally shot, and is going to get blown out of the water within five rounds by Zhang on June 1st. For Wilder to have a shot at winning, he would need to come out of the starting gates quickly, throwing bombs, but that doesn’t seem likely.
Wilder is overly cautious nowadays, afraid to throw for fear of being countered, and that’s the worst way to be against the powerful southpaw Zhang.
“I don’t think I lost my last fight, but three months, here I am again. Wilder is here to knock me out. I want to do the same thing to him. I’ll see him in the ring. I represent Queensberry now. Matchroom is history and I’m here to beat them,” said Zhang.
