SHANGHAI SHOCKER: SHO STUNS SHIMING
By Rene Bonsubre, Jr.
PhilBoxing.com
Sat, 29 Jul 2017
Sho Kimura.
SHANGHAI, CHINA ? Japanese Sho Kimura proved to be a tough customer and dethroned China?s boxing hero Zou Shiming in front of a near sellout crowd at the Shanghai Oriental Sports Center.
Zou was defending his WBO flyweight title for the first time against the number six ranked contender, who also holds the WBO Asia-Pacific title. Kimura was the aggressor and stalked Zou from the opening bell. Zou used his lateral movement to find angles and land counters.
But Kimura closed the gap and landed head and body punches. A clash of heads in the third round opened a cut on Kimura?s right eyebrow. Zou landed at will in the fifth and the cut got wider but the blood from the cut was not obstructing Kimura?s vision.
Zou continued his box and move routine past the halfway mark but Kimura continued his aggressiveness and body punches. The investment paid off with Zou fading in the homestretch and Kimura decked the Chinese Olympic hero with a brutal flurry in the 11th. A very exhausted Zou got up but shook his head when asked by Referee Danrex Tapdasan of the Philippines if he was willing to continue.
Time ? 2:28 of the 11th round. Zou was ahead on the scorecards of judges Edward Ligas (Philippines) ? 97-93 and Sawaeng Thaweekoon (Thailand) ? 96-94 after the 10th round. He was behind on one judge, Robert Hoyle (USA) who had it 96-94 for Kimura.
Kimura?s come from behind victory was an astonishing turn of events in the inaugural presentation of Zou Xuan Sports Promotions and China Boxing Union.
For the undercards which had Chinese boxers pitted against foreign counterparts ? Dong Chaoqun beat Sunil Khokhar (India) by unanimous decision, Abuminhe beat Bima Prakosa (Indonesia) by TKO, Sun Bohao and Thirayut Sithsaithong (Thailand) both scored knockdowns in the opening round but Sun knocked out the Thai with a hard right hook in the second, Yan Jie and Australian Joe Corner fought to a split draw and Cheng Zubiao and Indian Anuj Singh had a majority draw.
The fights were supervised by the Professional Boxing Commission (PBC) of China and the WBO title bout was supervised by WBO Asia-Pacific VP Leon Panoncillo.
Photo ? Sho Kimura in the dressing room with his WBO world flyweight title belt.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Rene Bonsubre, Jr..
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