Is Deontay Wilder big enough to compete with Zhilei Zhang?

Everyone knows that Zhilei Zhang is a big boy. It is part of his aura. But it is staggering just how big he is. Ahead of Saturday’s 5v5 matchup in Riyadh. Saudi Arabia against Deontay Wilder, Zhang weighed in at 282 pounds, 12 ounces while Wilder tipped the scales at 214 pounds, 10 ounces. This gives the Chinese banger a whopping 68.2 pound size advantage.

Both fighters are coming off of points losses to Joseph Parker and Wilder has said that this fight will see the loser likely pushed into retirement. With that in mind, is Wilder giving up too much weight to Zhang?

It is ok to come in smaller than your opponent, and doesn’t necessarily mean that you can’t win with it as proven most recently by Oleksandr Usyk’s defeat of Tyson Fury. But with both Usyk and indeed with Parker, there is a significant difference to be considered. Both of those fighters are supremely skillful boxers, masters of the stick-and-move art of pugilism. Wilder is not.

Tyson Fury has made a huge career for himself by simply leaning on opponents, imposing that huge frame on them and tiring them out. Zhang is perhaps not as skillful as Fury in that department, but is also happy to grapple and make you work for it. Joseph Parker was able to outbox Zhang and get away from those huge bear hugs.

The problem is that you don’t have a boxer versus a puncher in Wilder - Zhang. You have two punchers, squaring off. And in a like for like contest like that, the bigger man usually wins. Wilder will not outbox Zhang, but will instead rely on that huge right hand to end the fight. The question remains whether he will have enough oomph in that shot to put down a man as big as Zhang.