Saturday 1st June -
Deontay Wilder v Zhilei Zhang
A fight that has the potential to go either way if im being honest , neither fighter comes into the bout in great form .. Wilder (47 Fights - 43 Wins (42 KOs) - 2 Losses - 1 Draw) has lost three of his last four fights , lost the last two of the Fury trilogy , then knocked out Robert Helenius in spectacular fashion in the first round then lost a one sided fight by decision to Joseph Parker whilst Zhang (29 Fights - 26 Wins (21 KOs) - 2 Losses - 1 Draw) lost a contraversial decision to Hgrovic (which i personally think he won) , then looked good in absolutely destroying the Juggernaut Joe Joyce twice before losing to Joe Parker last time .. so both have a bit to prove and i think that this could possibly be the last hurrah for one of them. This is a hard one call tbh , Wilder has the punch that can end a fight in the blinking of an eye but if he comes into the fight and performs as he did against Parker then i cant see him going the distance against someone who hits as hard as Zhang , let alone winning the fight. BUT on the other hand if Zhang doesnt manage to stop Wilder early , say before round 6/7 , i can see him tiring , he does have a tendency to gas out around the middle rounds , and this would give Wilder a chance to land one of his haymakers on him. Its all a bit of a conundrum i reckon. Zhang , although slow , is definatley the better boxer and has a higher boxing IQ but as i said earlier if Wilder is back to his usual self for this one hes gonna be ramped up and looking to land that right hand. Zhang has a pretty decent defence whereas Wilder not so much , i see the early rounds going the way of Zhang , outboxing Wilder and maybe catching him a few times , can he take the power of Zhang ? Im not sure , hes heavy handed and hits a lot harder than Fury who dropped Wilder a few times , but then can Zhang take a Wilder right hander ? God knows , if he catches him clean with it i would say its probably game over. Hard one to weigh as it all depends on Wilders attitude / demeanour etc .. if its the old Wilder then i can see him winning later on , if it isnt then i see him getting stopped. An added incentive for Wilder is that he/people want to see him fight AJ and if he loses to Zhang now then i think that bout is gonna get binned off , so its pretty much a must win for him whilst Zhang is getting old and he isnt gonna get many more chances at the top i dont think .. As i say im having difficulty calling this one but im gonna go with Zhang to win , mainly cos hes the better boxer and i like him more than i do Wilder lol .. But if hes back to his old self then Wilder definatley has a shout .. If i were to bet in this i would probably go with the fight to end by round 10 by a stoppage , either fighter. But for the purpose of this thread im gonna side with Zhang.
Zhilei Zhang To Win
Daniel Dubois v Filip Hgrovic
Quite looking forward to this one as weren't expecting it , sort of come out of left field , tough one to call though to be honest. Dubois (22 Fights - 20 Wins (19 KOs) - 2 Losses) comes into this after stopping Jarrell Miller in the very last round last time , back in December of last year , and though Miller looked out of condition he fought okay tbh and Dubois handed him his first pro loss , after the Joyce loss people were writing Dubois off but he's come back and knuckled down and got stuck in , he racked up four victories before losing to Uysk , but there was no shame in that one lets be honest .. hes fought whose in front of him , hasnt ducked anyone so fair play to the lad. Hgrovic (17 Fights - 17 Wins (14 KOs)) is , as yet , unbeaten but personally i think he lost the Zhang fight , he beat Mark De Mori last time (same card as Dubois beat Miller) stopping him in the first round but in all honesty , that couldnt of been anything other than a stop gap fight as Hgrovic is levels above De Mori imho. Before that he stopped the well touted Aussie Demsey McKean in the twelfth and final round , a solid enough effort but as someone whose ranked so highly you'd be expecting him to win these fights. For someone ranked so highly theres not many 'names' on his resume , the best would be Zhang by a country mile , whereas Dubois has Uysk , Joyce , and Miller could be thrown in there as well , so resume wise , for me , he edges it i think. Its a close one , as i say despite being so highly ranked Hgrovic hasnt yet proven himself to be champion material but winning this would be a statement of intent , Dubois on the other hand seems to be learning and getting better as he goes along , Hgrovic seems to be a bit robotic and hes a notoriously slow starter and im not 100% about his stamina so if Dubois is out of the blocks quickly , like he was against Uysk , then i think he has a good chance of maybe catching him early , and theres no doubts about his stamina either .. the one thing that is in Hgrovic's favour is his mentality , he seems to be alot mentally stronger than Dubois , so when the going gets tough he keeps going .. boxing wise i dont think theres much in it to be honest , both can bang as well but i would rate Dubois as the harder puncher and Hgrovic is certainly gonna have his chin tested in this one i would think , as is Dubois. As i say its a tough one to call , and both are capable of winning it i think , bookies odds currently favour Hgrovic as do most people which is fair i suppose but i dont think people should be writing Dubois off so quickly , apparently the winner could be looking at a huge fight at Wembley against Anthony Joshua so theres no doubt in my mind that both will be going for it. I have to side with Daniel Dubois , its entirely possible that Hgrovic wins but if Dubois can start quickly strongly i think he has a serious chance of taking this , and if he can remain resilient and mentally strong in the patchier times hopefully he can come through and get another win on his resume.
Daniel Dubois To Win
Hamzah Sheeraz v Austin Williams
Another quality fight thats very much a 50/50 affair in my opinion , Williams (16 Fights - 16 Wins (11 KOs)) is definatley an up n coming fighter whose looked good so far and he has the tools to test Sheeraz and he certainly has the power to test his chin which has yet to have a real test. Sheeraz' best quality is his destructive power and hes going to certainly test Williams resolution. Williams has the better resume and for me is probably the better boxer but Sheeraz is getting better with each fight , and his last time out first round TKO of Liam Williams shocked alot of people given hes a tough nut to crack. This is a cracking fight for two of the most exciting Middleweight prospects out there , and to have it early (ish) in their careers is good , as theres always a chance that theres a repeat , maybe , later down the line. Eddie Hearn has said that whoever wins this will get a shot at a title fight so its a given that both fighters are gonna be giving it their all. I think both need a few more fights under their belts before challenging for titles tbh , Sheeraz has a decent height advantage over his opponent and i can see him utilizing that , and i can see him coming out and trying to get Williams out of there as soon as possible but if he doesnt manage that then theres a chance Williams can start to gain the upper hand as Sheeraz can get sloppy at times and Williams will be all over him if he makes any mistakes. Hard one to call i have to say but from what i've seen of them i think Sheeraz can get the job done.
Hamzah Sheeraz To Win
Raymond Ford v Nick Ball
And another cracking fight , quite looking forward to this one as well , unbeaten Ford (16 Fights - 15 Wins (8 KOs) - 1 Draw) makes the first defence of his WBA Featherweight title , which he won when he stopped Otabek Kholmatov last time in the final round despite losing the fight upto that moment , whereas Ball (20 Fights - 19 Fights (11 KOs) - 1 Draw) comes into this on the back of what can only be described as a travesty of a decision when he drew with Rey Vargas .. Its a difficult one to call as Ball is relentless , forever coming forward and throwing , he never gives up and Ford will have to be at the top of his game to deal with with his opponent. He is slick and technically better than Ball i think and he picks his shots well , and will probably handle Ball better than alot of his previous opponents. Its a genuinely hard one to call , i like Ball and i like his style , but i feel that Ford is gonna outbox him , however as he throws so many bombs theres always a chance that Ball could catch him and because of his relentless style you couldnt honestly write his chances off at any time in the fight. I like Ball and i would really like to see him win it but i feel that Ford is gonna have too much about him and that he'll take the fight and keep his belt , probably by decision.
Raymond Ford To Win
Dmitry Bivol v Malik Zinad
Well due to Artur Beterbiev being forced to pull out of his scheduled undisputed bout , Bivol (22 Fights - 22 Wins (11 KOs)) now faces Malik Zinad (22 Fights - 22 Wins (16 KOs)) for his WBA Light Heavyweight Title , obviously we're all disappointed at the fact the undisputed aint going ahead but injuries happen and at least Bivol is facing someone rather than just giving the date a miss. However it has to be said that he could of faced someone a tad more worthy than Zinad , who , will all respect , hasnt faced anyone off or even near Bivols level before. He may be unbeaten but taking into context with the opposition hes faced to date that dont mean much when faced with an elite fighter like Bivol. Fair play to Bivol for keeping the date and also to Zinad for stepping up but unless something goes mightily wrong i can only see a Bivol shut out in this.
Dmitry Bivol To Win