Zou Shiming vs. Sho Kimura – Results

By Boxing News - 07/28/2017 - Comments

By Chris Williams: In a shocking upset, unheralded #6 WBO Sho Kimura (15-1-2, 8 KOs) knocked out WBO World flyweight champion Zou Shiming (9-2, 2 KOs) in the 11th round on Friday night at the Shanghai Oriental Sports Center in Shanghai, China.

To say that this was a huge setback for the 2-time Olympic gold medalist Shiming is an understatement. This was supposed to be a simple voluntary defense for the 36-year-old Shiming, who recently won the World Boxing Organization title last November in beating Prasitsak Phaprom by a one-sided 12 round unanimous decision.

A bloody Kimura, 28, chased Shiming around the ring for the first 10 rounds. In the 11th, Kimura finally caught up with Shiming and shockingly dropped him to the canvas in a heap. A stunned and confused looking Shiming then dragged himself off the canvas, but referee Robert Hoyle made a wise decision in stopping the contest after seeing the condition was in.

The official time of the stoppage was at 2:28 of round 11. At the time the fight was halted, Shiming was in control of the fight by the judges’ scores of 96-94, 07-93. The third judge had Kimura ahead 96-94. Boxing News 24 had Kimura ahead by a 96-94 score. Shiming was doing too much running for him to be ahead at the time the fight was stopped.

It was frustrating to watch the constant movement from Shiming, as he was getting the better of Kimura when he would stop and make a fight of it. Kimura was able to nail Shiming with shots by cornering him every now and then. The little power that Shiming had on his punches was negated by all the movement that he was using. Shiming looked like he was getting tired from running from Kimura. In hindsight, it was a mistake for Shiming to move so much. He’s too old to be fighting that kind of style for 12 rounds against a pressure fighter like Kimura. Shiming needed to stand his ground, throw combinations and then tie Kimura up.

Where Shiming goes from here is the big question. He’s lost 2 out of his last 5 fights since 2015. Shiming was beaten by IBF World flyweight champion Amnat Ruenroeng by a 12 round unanimous decision on March 7, 2015. Shiming put together 3 consecutive wins after that defeat, and he looked good in those fights.

It’s not a good idea for Shiming to challenge the other flyweight champions, considering that they have punching power and they’re not the type of guys that he would match up well against. These are the current flyweight champions: Donnie Nietes, Kazuto Ioka and Daigo Higa. Shiming lacks the size and power to move up to super flyweight. He wouldn’t do well against 115 pound champions Naoya Inoue, Jerwin Acajas, Khalid Yafai and Sriisaket Sor Runvisai. If Shiming isn’t ready for retirement from boxing, one option would be for him to lose 4 lbs. and move down to the junior flyweight division. Shiming would have a decent chance of matching up against the champions in that weight class. Shiming would need to beat one of these 108 belt holders: Ken Shiro, Ryoichi Taguchi, Milan Melindo or Kosei Tanaka. It would be tough on Shiming, because those guys are fast, powerful and young. Shiming has speed, but not that kind of speed.