By Chris Williams: They’ve found another young fighter with almost zero experience for the former two time Olympic gold medalist Zou Shiming (1-0) to pad his record with in Jesus Ortega (3-1, 2 KO’s), who Shiming will be fighting this Saturday night in a scheduled 6 round bout at the Cotain Arena, Venetian Resort in Macao, China.
Ortega looks like he’s 18-years-old, possibly younger. The 32-year-old Shiming’s last opponent Eleazar Valenzuela was only 18, and he gave Shiming all he could handle last April in a fight that was a lot closer than the scores handed down.
The Shiming-Ortega fight is the main event on the card and HBO will be televising it. I don’t know how it’s a good thing for U.S boxing fans to have fighters with little pro experience being put in as headliner fights, but if HBO is okay with the likely low ratings this card will have then that’s on them.
I don’t see this fight bringing in big ratings because no one outside of hardcore boxing fans know who Zhiming is. I’m sure fans may tune in to watch it if they’re channel surfing, but I don’t casual fans are going to gout of their way to watch the fight like they would if they knew the competitors are ahead of time.
Shiming’s promoter Bob Arum is trying to open up the Chinese markets, and by signing Shiming, the two-time former Olympic Gold medalist from China, it gives Arum a chance to accomplish that goal. But Arum thinks he’s going to be able to turn Shiming into a star in the U.S, and he plans on taking him over to the U.S to have him fight there once Shiming has built up a big fan base in China.
Arum is counting on the large Chinese population to become big fans of Shiming just as the large Filipino fan base became devoted followers of Manny Pacquiao when his fights started taking place in the U.S in 2008. I don’t see it happening.
I know there are popular Chinese basketball players that Chinese Americans have backed in high numbers, but boxing isn’t nearly as popular as basketball, so Arum could end up failing if he thinks he’s going to turn Shiming into a star in the U.S.
For Shiming to become a star in American, he’s going to have to be good. Arum won’t be able to make him a start by matching him against 18-year novices and expecting fans to get excited about him after he slaps his way to a decision.
I think Shiming will tomorrow night and fail to impress just like last time. He’s a knockout waiting to happen once Arum puts him in with an opponent with a pulse and an ounce of talent. He’ll b already as long as Arum spoon feeds him.
Here are the weights for Friday’s weigh-in:
Juan Estrada 111.6 vs. Milan Melindo 111.6
Evgeny Gradovich 125.75 vs. Mauricio Munoz 125.75
Andy Ruiz Jr. 254.4 vs. Joe Hanks 236.8
Zou Shiming 111.4 vs. Jesus Ortega 111.6
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