Heavyweight contender Zhilei Zhang 26-2 (21) believes former WBC champion Deontay Wilder 43-3-1 (42) has a shaky chin.
But the 41-year-old Chinese southpaw still rates Wilder’s heart.
American Wilder, 38, has had a rough run of late. He has won just one of his past four bouts, including a brace of knockout losses to Tyson Fury 34-1-1 (24) that saw him on the canvas total of five times.
In his last outing in December, Wilder was comprehensively outboxed by former WBO champion Joseph Parker 35-3 (23).
New Zealand’s Parker, 32, parlayed this win into a victory over Zhang by majority decision in March. Parker controlled much of the action but still had to pick himself up off the canvas in the third and eighth rounds to get the win.
Zhang believes his performance against Parker compares favourably to Wilder’s.
“Parker fought both of us and look at how his face was different from the Wilder fight and my fight, and we know,” Zhang said to BoxNation.
“He’s coming here to beat me, and in my mind, he’s very dangerous and 100%, we’re well-prepared.”
Zhang went on to mock Wilder’s repeated claims he wants to have a “body” on his record.
“Who’s body did he put on his record? Nobody,” Zhang said. “You can say whatever he wants, but he doesn’t have a body on his record.
“If you look at my previous opponents, everybody is saying basically the same thing. They’re going to knock me out. Nobody knocked me out.
“I believe boxing is a sport. It doesn’t go through your mouth, it goes through your fists.
“I must admit that Tyson Fury did a great job on Wilder’s last two fights, but I don’t think Tyson Fury is a natural heavy puncher. His punching power is there, but is it that powerful? That’s the question mark.
“If you compare my knockouts and see what happens to my opponents, their eyes roll, their lights are out. So I would say I can get the lights out for Deontay Wilder.
“It’s in the cooking. It’s in the brewing. I hope to bring a top-level fight to China. They deserve to see this.”
Earlier this week Wilder spoke positively about his training camp for this fight, saying he had rediscovered the old spark that made him such a dangerous puncher.
“It’s been a real fun camp, real exciting, my focus has been on point, my mindset has been on point, my aggression has been off the chart and I’m ready to go,” Wilder said on social media.
“I could say a lot of things but on June 1st it’s going to be the revealing and everyone’s going to be the witness. I feel like I’m ready, I sound and look like I’m ready in all aspects of it.”
