Deontay Wilder vs. Zhilei Zhang | PPV - June 1, 2024

[Lackeos]

Fighting Wilder does nothing for Zhang..

Would he be getting paid, or are they fighting for free?

[Lenny Cravats]

Good match.

I lean towards Wilder's durability and Zhang's low output making it Wilder's fight.... But wouldn't be surprised by Wilder getting hammered early.

[margaret thatcher]

wilder gets dropped 5x by fury and is called durable for it, good ol delboy and otter must be made of iron then , they didnt go down once

[Controversial]

I can see Zhang winning this in the first few rounds. Hard to know how much Wilder has left as he looked very poor against Parker.

[funso banjo baby]

Deontay is over.

[KiwiRider]

I can see Zhang winning this in the first few rounds. Hard to know how much Wilder has left as he looked very poor against Parker.

Parker just did a better job than most by the simple tactic of not letting Wilder set up the right hand. Virtually every one of Wilders title fight opponents were winning on the cards until they were stopped. Fury got back up from it, Parker prevented it from happening in the first place.

[joshj909]

I can see Zhang winning this in the first few rounds. Hard to know how much Wilder has left as he looked very poor against Parker.

Parker just did a better job than most by the simple tactic of not letting Wilder set up the right hand. Virtually every one of Wilders title fight opponents were winning on the cards until they were stopped. Fury got back up from it, Parker prevented it from happening in the first place.

Winning on the fan cards atleast.

[KiwiRider]

I can see Zhang winning this in the first few rounds. Hard to know how much Wilder has left as he looked very poor against Parker.

Parker just did a better job than most by the simple tactic of not letting Wilder set up the right hand. Virtually every one of Wilders title fight opponents were winning on the cards until they were stopped. Fury got back up from it, Parker prevented it from happening in the first place.

Winning on the fan cards atleast.

Come on man, even Washington was winning rounds.

[joshj909]

Parker just did a better job than most by the simple tactic of not letting Wilder set up the right hand. Virtually every one of Wilders title fight opponents were winning on the cards until they were stopped. Fury got back up from it, Parker prevented it from happening in the first place.

Winning on the fan cards atleast.

Come on man, even Washington was winning rounds.

They all were but the judges didn't give them many. Washington didn't win a single round on the judges scorecards. The punch stats between wilder and Szpilka were 75-68 but Szpilka only got given 2 rounds to Wilder's 6. I don't even think Ortiz was up on the cards when he was clearly winning the first fight.

[pound per pound]

This will be Wilder's first match vs. a legitimate puncher. I expect him to fold.

[KiwiRider]

This will be Wilder's first match vs. a legitimate puncher. I expect him to fold.

2018 Ortiz I thought was a legit hard hitter?

[gregregegg]

This will be Wilder's first match vs. a legitimate puncher. I expect him to fold.

2018 Ortiz I thought was a legit hard hitter?

As with everything about Ortiz “it’s hard to say”…

[Jeff_lacy_ko]

Ortiz was a good puncher. Not zhang but very good. He had wilder on spaghetti legs but wilder recovered

Zhang should win this. Wilder doesnt have the skill to stay away from a straight left he going to get hit often

[pound per pound]

Heavyweight boxing is about TV viewership.

It doest matter the fighter's old age or their flaws.

Lots of people want to see Wilder win and just as many want to see the fraud chined.

Lot of Chinese people, like 30 million viewers, want to see Zhang fight too.

Win, lose, or draw. Either way the winner and the loser will both be paid.

It makes too much sense and its boxing job to capitalize on the punch drunk fans Never mind the fact that both men are old and not very good. The fight would have been better five years ago, but the popular demand is now.

An American " great hope " vs an overweight man from China, both are very old? Yep.

Call me nostalgic, but I hope Don King is involved in the Saudi Promotions.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Deontay Wilder vs Zhilei Zhang leads Matchroom vs Queensberry 5 Vs 5 on June 1st

Daniel Dubois vs Filip Hrgovic, Raymond Ford vs Nick Ball, Hamzah Sheeraz vs Austin Williams, Craig Richards vs Willy Hutchinson round out the undercard

After officially announcing Dmitry Bivol vs Artur Beterbiev for the undipsuted light heavyweight title on June 1st and Riyadh, allegedly and Eddie Hearn took the stage with 10 masked pugilists to steadily reveal the lineup for their long-brewing 5 Vs 5 showdown.



First came Daniel Dubois (20-2, 19 KO), who battles Matchroom’s Filip Hrgovic (17-0, 14 KO) in the first of two heavyweight showdowns. There’s a real chance this could turn into a title bout before fight night; Hrgovic is the IBF mandatory challenger and Dubois is no. 4, so if the winner of Usyk vs Fury vacates to honor the rematch clause, there’s no reason not to sanction it.

Down at 126, Raymond Ford (15-0-1, 8 KO) makes the first defense of his newly acquired WBA title against Queensberry’s Nick Ball (19-0-1, 11 KO), whom Eddie Hearn inadvertently named early while hyping up Dubois vs Hrgovic. Ford, fresh off of shocking Otabek Kholmatov in the final seconds, was previously expected to vacate the belt and move to 130, but will instead give Ball another shot at the big time after falling agonizingly short against Rey Vargas.

At 160, Hamzah Sheeraz (19-0, 15 KO) carries the Queensberry flag against Austin “Ammo” Williams (16-0, 11 KO). Both enjoy top-five spots in multiple sanctioning bodies’ rankings and should make for a quality scrap.

15 pounds north, Matchroom calls upon Craig Richards (18-3-1, 11 KO) to fight Willy Hutchinson (17-1, 13 KO), breaking Scott’s three-for-three prediction streak. Richards is 2-2 in his last four, but gave solid accounts of himself against both Bivol and Joshua Buatsi, while the 25-year-old Hutchinson is 4-0 with four finishes since falling to Lennox Clarke in 2021.

As for the wildcard heavyweight pick, Zhang Zhilei (26-2-1, 21 KO) reps Queensberry against Deontay Wilder (43-3-1, 42 KO). Even with their recent defeats, I don’t need to sell you on this one; it might as well be a sanctioned pistol duel.

Rather than just do best of five, each fight gives the winning promoter two points for a finish or one point for a decision, with the captains (Sheeraz and Wilder) receiving double points.

[nmhz]

Fighting Wilder does nothing for Zhang..

Would he be getting paid, or are they fighting for free?

I Was meaning for his career. Payday of course

I thought Zhang was all about getting a belt and his best option was to rematch Parker which he was contracted for. The Saudi money strikes again!

[1441769]

THE BATTLE OF THE JOSEPH PARKER VICTIMS

[Ruthless-RKO]

Artur Beterbiev vs Dmitry Bivol postponed due to injury, rest of card goes on

Artur Beterbiev is injured, and his scheduled June 1 fight with Dmitry Bivol will be postponed.

Turki Alalshikh confirmed the news this evening. The rest of the June 1 card, featuring the Queensberry vs Matchroom 5v5 series, will go on as planned.

It’s not a new story for boxing fans, who have seen the 39-year-old Beterbiev fight just 20 times in an 11-year pro career partially because repeated injuries issues have been a plague on his activity. There were other reasons, too, but any Beterbiev fight seems about a 50/50 bet to actually happen on its originally scheduled date at this point, and this one won’t.

Bivol (22-0, 11 KO) and Beterbiev will be fighting for the undisputed light heavyweight championship, as Bivol holds the WBA title and Beterbiev owns the WBC, IBF, and WBO belts. It’s a long-awaited fight and one of the best to be made in all of boxing, so fans will be ready whenever Artur is.

The June 1 main event will now be Deontay Wilder vs Zhilei Zhang, both coming off of losses but also figuring to be such a potentially fascinating style matchup with two big-hitting heavyweights that this doesn’t matter as much as it normally might.

Beterbiev vs Bivol was already not going to be part of the pay-per-view portion of the show, as the fight was to air exclusively on ESPN+ in the United States, with the remainder of the show going through DAZN PPV, an odd set-up that now doesn’t even matter, it’s just a DAZN PPV.

[Ruthless-RKO]

This is now the main event

[quickeyg]

And here we GO.

Heavyweight Roundtable chat.

Deontay Wilder interview.

Short Deontay Wilder Interview.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Fight Week!!

[joshj909]

It looks like Turki wants Wilder Vs Anderson in August with a win or a loss.

Where does Zhang go with a win? A loss should see him retire but he might have a final fight somewhere else.

Most are tied up already. Outside chance of Joshua, Kabayel, Dubois (if he loses) or Bakole?

[DrDuke]

It looks like Turki wants Wilder Vs Anderson in August with a win or a loss.

Where does Zhang go with a win? A loss should see him retire but he might have a final fight somewhere else.

Most are tied up already. Outside chance of Joshua, Kabayel, Dubois (if he loses) or Bakole?

Zhang can claim the Hrgovic rematch, if both win. I'm pretty sure, that Zhang gang bangs Wilder.

[joshj909]

It looks like Turki wants Wilder Vs Anderson in August with a win or a loss.

Where does Zhang go with a win? A loss should see him retire but he might have a final fight somewhere else.

Most are tied up already. Outside chance of Joshua, Kabayel, Dubois (if he loses) or Bakole?

Zhang can claim the Hrgovic rematch, if both win. I'm pretty sure, that Zhang gang bangs Wilder.

Hrgovic will either be IBF champ or first mandatory for the undisputed belt. Joshua will almost certainly get the chance against Hrgovic if Hrgovic is champ. Hrgovic will likely sit out if he's still mandatory. If Hrgovic then loses against Joshua then I guess the Zhang rematch would make sense but you'd want Zhang to have a fight before then.

[dempseyfire]

It looks like Turki wants Wilder Vs Anderson in August with a win or a loss.

Where does Zhang go with a win? A loss should see him retire but he might have a final fight somewhere else.

Most are tied up already. Outside chance of Joshua, Kabayel, Dubois (if he loses) or Bakole?

Anderson has been matched VERY soft; I don't see his people putting him in with Wilder unless Wilder looks like absolute trash in this fight.