Pocket dynamo Xiong headlines five-star show in Wenshan ring

A title wave hit Wenshan, Yunnan province, on Sunday night as five of China’s flashiest fighters won World Boxing Council regional or international championships.

The hit parade — televised nationwide on CCTV — was led by miniscule ex-miner Xiong Chaozhong (25-6-1, 14 KOs) of Kunming, who gutted out a 10-round decision over Japan’s Hiroya Yamamoto (8-3) for the WBC’s vacant International minimumweight (105 pounds) crown.

The star of the show, however, was savage-punching bantamweight Qiu Xiaojun (15-2) of Suzhou, Jiangsu province, who survived a brutal first-round knockdown to KO former International flyweight champ Sylvester Lopez of the Philippines (23-10) in six rounds to claim the WBC’s vacant Silver title.

Welterweight Yang Xingxin of Kunming improved to 10-3-2 by ending his slugfest with South Korea’s Lee Joonyong (4-2-3) with a sixthround KO for the WBC Youth world belt, while Cai Zong ju (4-1) of Jinan, Shandong province, claimed the vacant International female minimumweight title with a daz- zling 10-round demolition of former WIBA world champion Gretchen Abaniel (15-7) of the Phillipines.

Featherweight Wei Xianqian (7-4-1) of Kunming was also victorious against Hero Tito (9-6-1) of Indonesia, winning a 10-round decision for the WBC’s Asian Boxing Council strap.

“We expect a sensational boxing card ahead of hosting our 53rd annual convention in the beautiful city of Kunming in November,” WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman said beforehand on the sanctioning body’s website.

“Our many trips to China have been reinforced with great skills, hard work and devotion by local organizers via seminars for ring officials, ring physicians and trainers which led to our 46 th convention being held in Chengdu, and then in 2012 Xiong Chao-zhong put Kunming in the spotlight by winning the WBC world title. This spectacular card continues that trend.”

Sunday’s main event saw Xiong establish his rhythm early, rocking Yamamoto with a lead right that buckled the Japanese fighter’s knees midway through the opening round.

Xiong continued to outpunch his foe by a wide mar- gin until the sixth, when the former world titleholder was cut over his right eye by Yamamoto’s counter left hook.

Xiong’s corner did a great job of staunching the flow of blood, but Yamamoto rarely took a backwards step over the final three stanzas, forcing the shorter Xiong to stand and deliver at close range — which he did in spectacular fashion.

With the crowd on its feet, Xiong won the 10th and final round going away, tattooing Yamamoto with crisp combos that left the Japanese fighter reeling in survival mode.

The fight of the night was Qiu versus Lopez, which saw the 24-year-old Chinese brawler decked by a looping right late in the opening round.

Qiu showed tremendous recuperative powers by coming out for Round 2 swinging for the fences, and he continued to grow stronger and drive the cagey Lopez into a defensive shell.

In the sixth, Qiu dropped the Filipino with a left to the chin, then landed 27 unanswered punches before referee Malcolm Bulner of Australia wisely moved in to halt the carnage.

The Zovi Boxing Promotions card was a virtual sellout.