ZOU AND KIMURA FACE TO FACE
By Rene Bonsubre, Jr.
PhilBoxing.com
Wed, 26 Jul 2017
SHANGHAI, CHINA - Zou Shiming (9W-1L,2KO?s) will make the first defense of his WBO world flyweight title this Friday against Japanese challenger Sho Kimura (14W-1L-2D,7KO?s).
The protagonists were civil towards each other during the press conference held Wednesday at the Intercontinental Hotel in Shanghai. No harsh words were exchanged and Zou talked about the task of building an audience for boxing here in mainland China. Football and basketball are among the popular sports here but he hopes boxing will have a bigger fan base in the near future.
His parting words however, revealed his confidence going into this fight. ?I was a champion, I am a champion, I will always be a champion whoever is my challenger.?
Zou is a two time Olympic gold medalist and was the flagship for the buildup of pro boxing in China when big fights were held in Macao. He lost in his first attempt at a world title in 2014 by unanimous decision to then IBF flyweight champ Thai Amnat Ruenroeng. Zou won the WBO title last year by unanimous verdict against another Thai boxer Prasitsak Phaprom in Las Vegas on the undercard of the Manny Pacquiao- Jessie Vargas title fight.
Kimura is the WBO Asia-Pacific title-holder. He won the title by majority decision against his countryman Masahiro Sakamoto in Osaka. Four of Kimura?s last five fights ended by the short route.
WBO Vice-President for Asia Pacific Leon Panoncillo Jr speaks during Wednesday's Zou Shiming-Kimura WBO world flyweight title fight press conference in Shanghai.
Shiming and Kimura staredown.
The third man in the ring will be Atty. Danrex Tapdasan of the Philippines. The judges are Robert Hoyle (USA), Edward Ligas (Philippines) and Sawaeng Thaweekoon (Thailand).
WBO VP for Asia Pacific Leon Panoncillo was at hand during the rpess conference and he will be supervising the title fight.
This will be the first attempt at a big show promotion for Zou Shiming Sports and Cultural Development Association and the China Boxing Union. The bouts will be officiated by the Professional Boxing Commission (PBC) of China.
The undercard boxers are - Dong Chaoqun vs Sunil Khokhar (India), Amingbuhe vs Bima Prakosa ( Indonesia), Yan Jie vs Joe Corner (Australia), Sun Bohao vs Thirayut Sithsaithong (Thailand) and Chen Zubiao vs Anuj Singh (India).
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