Zou fails to impress in victory over Ortega
MACAU: China’s great boxing hope Zou Shiming notched up an unconvincing second professional victory against Mexico’s Jesus Ortega on Saturday, failing to answer questions about his lack of punching power.
The two-time Olympic gold medallist, topping the bill at the Fists of Gold II event at Macau’s Venetian resort-hotel, went the six-round distance but tired well before the bout ended, resorting in the final three minutes to clinging on to his equally inexperienced opponent.
With millions expected to have tuned in to watch the nation’s boxing icon on China’s state television, much was riding on the shoulders of the man many hope will become the country’s first professional world champion.
In front of an electric crowd buoyed by two earlier 12-round toe-to-toe bouts, 32-year-old flyweight Zou came out more technically proficient for the first three rounds than in his previous bout, but largely failed to rattle the 19-year-old Mexican in his fifth professional fight.
Ortega shrugged off Zou’s combinations in the first two rounds, showboating at the end of the second and dropping his guard, only to receive minimal punishment.
In the third, Zou ramped up the pressure with a slew of combinations, but
China’s Zou Shiming, left, fights Mexico’s Jesus Ortega in Macau. soon tired, grabbing at his opponent by the fifth and spending much of the final round alternating between trading flailing punches and clinging on.
Despite the performance, judges handed Zou a unanimous victory, scoring the bout 59-55, 59-55, 59-55.
Earlier, Russian IBF featherweight champion Evgeny Gradovich stretched his record to 17 undefeated contests, giving spirited Argentinian challenger Mauricio Munoz a lesson in punching accuracy. Judges scored the fight 119-109, 119-109, 120-108, leaving Munoz with 26 wins to four losses.
Mexican Juan Francisco Estrada dented Filipino Milan Melindo’s 28-fight unbeaten record to retain his WBA and WBO flyweight titles, with a knockdown in the 11th round and a devastating display in the 12th, leaving him with 25 wins to two losses.
In San Antonio, Jesus Soto Karass stopped Andre Berto with a left hook in the 12th round of their welterweight fight on Saturday night, possibly ending Berto’s career.
Soto Karass (28-8-3, 18 KOs) surged in the fight from the fourth round as Berto began to lose effectiveness from his dominant right side. Though Berto (28-3) floored Soto Karass with a lefthand body shot in the 11th, Berto couldn’t sustain the rally.
On the undercard, Omar Figueroa Jr (22-0-1) became the interim WBC lightweight champion in a unanimous decision over Japan’s Nihito Arakawa (24-3-1). But it was a bruising fight, with the brawling Figueroa punching Arakawa into two eight counts and a welt over the eye and Figueroa trudging through most of the fight with a nasty gash on the bridge of his nose from what was ruled an accidental head butt.
Keith Thurman (23-0, 19 KOs) took the interim WBA welterweight belt from Argentina’s Diego Chavez (22-1) with a 10th-round knockout. Thurman rallied and sent Chaves to the mat with a solid body shot in the ninth. Thurman finished it off 28 seconds into the 10th when he caught Chaves with a right.