Zhilei Zhang and Joe Joyce will collide for a second time this weekend and Teddy Atlas believes the result will be the same as their first encounter.
Earlier this year, Zhang travelled to Britain to cause a mini upset as he frequently landed on Joyce before stopping his opponent in the fight’s sixth session.
The result made Zhang the WBO mandatory challenger for a shot at Oleksandr Usyk but first the Chinese star must face Joyce for a second time after a rematch clause was activated.
Zhang begins this contest a slight favourite and Atlas, one of boxing’s most respected voices, believes he’ll get the job done again.
“At the end of the day for those out there that want to hear my pick, how could I not, after breaking it down thoroughly, how could I not go with Zhang again?” said Atlas when speaking on The Fight podcast.
“If anything, he’s got more confidence after winning the first time. I don’t know if he’ll stop him again, he stopped him by closing his eye last time, I don’t know if he’ll do that again.
“Just with his jab, his reach, his size that he knows how to use fairly well.”