In a card billed as a ‘5 v 5’ between promotional stables Matchroom and Queensberry, a packed bill takes place at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh this Saturday with Deontay Wilder headlining the card against Zhilei Zhang in the main event over twelve rounds.
TNT Sports Box Office and DAZN pay-per-view televise Wilder vs Zhang and the whole Queensberry vs Matchroom card live.
Wilder (43-3-1, 42 KOs) has looked vulnerable since losing a pair of bouts with Tyson Fury inside schedule, and after returning with a one round blowout of Robert Helenius, he was expected to get right back into the world title mix when he faced Joseph Parker last December.
‘The Bronze Bomber’ put in a lacklustre performance, and was thrashed on the cards.
Zhang (26-2-1, 21 KOs) enjoyed a pair of early wins against Joe Joyce to catapult his name into the pot for world titles, but after a decent start against the aforementioned Parker in March, where he decked the New Zealander twice, he was edged out on a majority decision.
Prediction: I think after a curious and ponderous display against Parker, we could see the old Wilder here, and if he has anything left in the tank, he can halt Zhang around the halfway mark.
Dubois faces Hrgovic
IBF number one heavyweight contender, Filip Hrgovic meets Daniel Dubois.
Before doing as expected in blowing Mark De Mori away inside a round in December 2023, Hrgovic (17-0, 14 KOs) was troubled in wins against Zhang and Demsey McKean, and Dubois (20-2, 19 KOs) has also shown frailties, halted in the tenth round against Joyce, and knocked out by Oleksandr Usyk in a world title challenge last August.
However, the 26-year-old impressed in wearing down Jarrell Miller in the tenth and final round last time out.
Prediction: Dubois’ best hope here is early, and if Hrgovic can weather that storm, he can hunt the Londoner down for a stoppage win late on.
Ball battles Ford for world title
Nick Ball (19-0-1, 11 KOs) looked unfortunate to not be crowned WBC featherweight champion in a contentious draw in his most recent effort against Rey Vargas, despite scoring two knockdowns, and he could find his way to world honours blocked again, this time by Raymond Ford (15-0-1, 8 KOs), the WBA king.
Prediction: Ford can make a successful first defence of his belt on the scorecards.
Sheeraz meets Williams
Two unbeaten hopes clash in a world title eliminator, at middleweight and I lean towards Austin ‘Ammo’ Williams (16-0, 11 KOs) getting the better of Hamzah Sheeraz (19-0, 15 KOs) inside the distance.
Hutchinson clashes with Richards
Craig Richards (18-3-1, 11 KOs) has given solid efforts in losses to Dmitry Bivol and Joshua Buatsi in recent times, and he can take a stoppage win against Willy Hutchinson (17-1, 13 KOs) in their light heavyweight twelve rounder.
Bivol faces Zinad after Beterbiev withdrawal
Dmitry Bivol was due to headline in a blockbuster against Artur Beterbiev as an added extra, but Beterbiev was forced to withdraw, and Bivol (22-0, 11 KOs) defends his WBA ‘super’ and IBO light heavyweight crowns against Libya’s Malik Zinad instead.
The Russian has mixed in world title circles for a number of years, and made eight defences as the WBA regular and then super champion, before breaking out as a pound-for-pound star in a superb points win against Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez in May 2022.
Bivol would then slay another Mexican in his next outing, a clear win on the cards against Gilberto Ramirez, and he was last seen in December, winning every round in adding the IBO bauble against Lyndon Arthur.
Zinad (22-0, KO16) has campaigned in a number of countries, but has never operated anywhere near world level. Based in Malta, the unbeaten 30-year-old is coming off a majority decision win against Jerome Pampellone in Australia in April, that secured him the number two spot with the IBF.
Prediction: Bivol is marking time on an undisputed world title clash with Beterbiev, so he will be on his mettle here. I think he will box clever, and win very handily on the scorecards.
